Labyrinth Gundam Style
by Snow Tigra
Summary: Shonenai hints. One night, on a whim, Duo wishes his younger brother Solo would disappear. One problem, he does! Now Duo must journey through the labyrinth to reach Heero's castle and save his younger brother. Fushion with the movie labyrinth, however
1. Default Chapter

Title: Labyrinth - Gundam Wing Style  
Series: Gundam  
Author: Snow Tigra  
Rating: ummm… R for right now to be safe  
Pairing: heheh Heero and Duo of course!  
Warnings: AU, slight OOC for Heero, fae, goblins, mazes and annoying little brothers  
Spoilers: Maybe for the original movie Labyrinth, but not likely  
Archive: Fanfiction.net  
  
Note: A big GLOMP and thanx to klc for betaing this for me!  
  
Part 1  
  
"Life can't be easy. It's not always swell.   
Don't tell me truth hurts, little girl.   
Because it hurts like hell."  
  
David Bowie - 'Underground'  
  
If there were ever two boys that looked this much alike, the world had not seen them. Now mind you, when I say alike, I do not mean identical in every fashion. For identical twins are created from the same cell, and therefore are two of the same being. No, I  
mean that despite the fact that these two boys had the same father and a different mother they still looked like mirror reflections of each other, with small differences here and there. These differences, of course, could not be helped, yet there were only two. Their hair, and their height.  
  
The tallest one was, of course, the oldest. Many believed him to be a girl thanks to the long silky smooth locks of hair that flowed down his back and gathered into a braid which reached his mid-thigh. His hair was his pride and joy, his late mother having loved it so. As a result in memory of her, he never cut it.  
  
His younger stepbrother, on the other hand, had long hair simply because he wanted to be like his older brother. Being shorter then his brother made no difference in his life, for he endeavored to become his brother's reflection in every way. Or at least he had done so until about a year ago.   
  
But in any case the two still looked like perfect reflections of each other save the fact that the older brother had hair the color of sweet caramel while his younger brother had hair as bright as fire.   
  
Aside from looks the two were quite different. In fact, one could almost say as different as night and day. But perhaps night and day aren't that different.   
  
The oldest brother, whose name was Duo, lived in a world of fantasy. His mother, Helen, had been a great actress before she died, and was well known for her roles in fantastic movies, plays, and all sorts of media. Her son, following in her footsteps, found himself drawn to things of the like. He spent his time reading books, tromping through the library, and occasionally, when no one was looking, acting out his favorite scenes as if he were the main character facing the arch enemy in the final battle.   
  
He decorated his room with stuffed animals his mother had given him as a child. They were all lined up neatly on shelves around the room with name plaques hanging below each, their names etched in large sweeping calligraphy. Posters of dragons, wizards, castle, knights and magical creatures dotted his walls. Red Christmas lights were wrapped along the walls and down his bedposts, and were the only source of light ever used on his side of the room.   
  
Crammed against the wall between his closet and the main door to the room was a single bookshelf, overflowing with old beaten books which had obviously been read millions of times. He never left a book on that shelf long enough for it to collect a layer of dust before he read it again, but still he was reading new ones every week.  
  
Contrary to the notion of being mirror images, the other side of the room was a stark contrast to Duo's. He shared his room with his younger stepbrother Solo, much to both their dismay. Solo had spent the first few years of his life in the house imitating Duo's every movement and following him like a shadow, and he couldn't have been happier. Yet Solo had finally found he wasn't interested in all of Duo's fantasy books or magical creatures. In fact he found them rather childish. So he abandoned imitating Duo in favor of different activities, though he still had no intention of cutting his hair.  
  
His side of the room also had shelves along the walls. But where Duo had stuffed animals, and pewter figurines, Solo had models and various other gadgets. A desk was crammed next to his bed, complete with a brand new computer their parents had gotten him for his birthday. There were no posters from books on his walls, and no figurines. Instead they were replaced with model instructions, blueprint-like drawings, and various directions from computer games. Disks and CD cases were overflowed in piles on his side of the door, occasionally toppling to the ground, but never near the door. No, they were far too precious to be stepped on.  
  
One room divided evenly into two separate worlds, with two separate beings that now only spoke to annoy each other. And their parents expected them to live like this for how many years? Duo being fifteen and his younger brother being thirteen didn't matter that much. In any case it was a long way for both of them until college, and they were still working on not coming to blows.  
  
Speaking of coming to blows…  
  
Duo glanced up from the thick book in his hands and glanced over at his stepbrother, who sat practically stone still at his computer, save for the movements of his mouse and an occasional blink. All around them the room was filled with silence.   
  
Well, silence until Duo noticed the strange static noises coming from his brother's headphones. Turning his head back to his book, he turned the page and thanked his lucky stars that his brother was actually using the headphones this time. He couldn't stand Solo's techno dance music or whatever the heck it was called. That steady mechanical beat in the background was horrid.  
  
Beyond the closed door Duo heard the front door shut, and the great grandfather clock in the living room chime five o'clock. Dad always came home at five o'clock on the dot, and he'd done that ever since Duo could remember. But five o'clock was more important for another reason. Dinner time. Closing his book Duo sat up and stretched, throwing his braid back over his shoulder. Walking over to his brother's desk he kicked the back leg.  
  
Solo looked up and frowned at him, pulling one speaker away from his ear. "What?"  
  
"Dad's home. Dinner time." Duo grinned broadly, just to counter the annoyed look on his brother's face, then turned and raced out of the room, practically flying down the stairs. He came to a landing at the dining room table without flinching, dropping into his seat and watching the kitchen door expectantly.  
  
It took him a second to realize the table wasn't set as usual. Duo frowned. Not that he expected his stepmother to be a slave or anything, but she had this anal retentive tendency to have everything finished or set up the second Duo's father got home from work. She was like that with everything. Stiff as a stick and very strict, everything had to be right the first time, and it had to be perfect. She even threw a fit when her child, Solo, came home with a B on his report card. She'd tried that once with Duo and he'd simply stuck his tongue out at her, proceeding to purposely not turn in his homework for the next week. It'd really pissed her off and significantly lowered his grade. But at least she got the point, and no longer bothered him about his grades.  
  
Standing up from the table, Duo wandered into the kitchen to see what was going on. He found it empty. That's strange, he thought. Shrugging to himself he walked back up the stairs and went to the doorway that led to their room. Leaning against the doorframe he watched his father bustle around the room, picking up several ties and tossing them aside after a moment's thought.  
  
Duo's father looked up and saw him watching, he grinned at his son. "Help me find my blue tie, will ya?" he asked.  
  
Duo nodded and stepped into the room, walking straight to the closet where he knew his father kept his favorite ties. He could hear the sounds of his stepmother curling her hair in the bathroom.  
  
"Here it is." Duo pulled out the tie and handed it to his father, then sat down on the large master bed patiently waiting to get an answer about what was going on.  
  
"Thanks," Duo's father said, taking the tie and proceeding to tie it around his neck. "You'll never believe what I saw in the front yard when I got out of the carpool today. It was this beautiful snowy owl, sitting right on the mailbox near your bedroom window. He had perfect white feathers with not a speak of dust on them and bright blue eyes, that looked almost human."  
  
"Wow! Cool! I knew I should have read outside today instead of staying in my room."  
  
Duo's stepmother stepped out of the bathroom, her hair pulled into a tight bun surrounded by tight little curls. "Honey, you know as well as I do that owls don't have blue eyes."  
  
"This one did." Duo's father repeated, but then shrugged it off. Meanwhile Duo watched the two rush around the room, searching for purses, and wallets, and keys.  
  
"Where are you two going?"  
  
All three heads turned to see Solo standing in the doorway, in the exact same spot Duo had been standing only moments ago.  
  
"The Winner's are having a fancy dinner at their estate and we were invited." Duo's stepmother supplied as she stuffed her make-up in her purse. Turning, she frowned and proceeded to straighten and tighten her husband's tie, despite his protests.  
  
"So you guys get to fend for yourself for dinner," their father finished.  
  
"Is there a pizza in the freezer?" Duo asked hopefully. He received a scolding look from his stepmother.  
  
"Duo Maxwell, you know very well that pizzas aren't good for you. No, there is left over salad, and I'm sure you boys can come up with a perfectly healthy meal on your own."  
  
Duo scowled and narrowed his eyes at the stiff woman as she turned her back to him. It was all her fault that he hadn't had a real frozen pizza in years, and even then he'd only gotten one because he'd gone to a friend's house. No, pizzas and other really good junk food weren't allowed in their house anymore, his stepmother made sure of that. He was convinced that it was her mission to make everyone as willowy as herself, and so Duo ate large amounts of the healthy food, just to make sure he never looked quite as thin as she wanted him to.  
  
"Mind if I go out to Alex's tonight? He has some books I want to borrow."  
  
Duo's stepmother shook her head. "Absolutely not. You need to stay here and watch your younger brother."  
  
"I don't need baby sitting," Solo muttered venomously from the doorway.  
  
But she fixed her son with a stern look and he went silent, retreating from the doorway to their shared room. Having satisfied herself with the fact that Solo wouldn't complain anymore she turned her attention to Duo. "You are not to leave the house, with or without your younger brother."  
  
Duo grumbled and stood up, heading for the door.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya." Duo stepped out of the room. "Ya old hag," he muttered under his breath as soon as he knew she wouldn't hear. Why his father had married a lousy stick in the mud like her he'd never know. Still grumbling to himself he returned to his room and grabbed his book. Flopping back onto his bed he reopened it to the page he'd left off on.  
  
Minutes passed and soon his parents left, the grandfather clock in their entryway marking their departure with a loud dong for five-thirty. Solo returned to the room a few minutes after with a sandwich in his hand, crammed with tuna and lettuce. Munching loudly he walked over to Duo's bed and leaned over his shoulder.  
  
"What'cha reading?"  
  
Duo narrowed his eyes as a few crumbs fell from the sandwich on to the pages of his book. He brushed them away. "Nothing you'd be interested in."  
  
Reaching down Solo grabbed the edge of the book and snatched it from his brother's hands. Shoving the rest of his sandwich into his mouth he closed it and flipped to the front. "Fae and other magical creatures?" Opening the book he paged through the beaten papers, not so kindly. He stopped on a particular drawing of a tall willowy man dressed in long midnight colored robes. "Another fairy book? Honest, Duo, when will you give up on this childish hobby and find something… less girlish to read?"  
  
Duo sat up and snatched back at the book but his younger brother lifted it out of reach. He chuckled as he read a few lines.   
  
"The Goblin King, eh? Looks like an anorexic jeans model if you ask me. What's this?"   
  
Solo made his voice high and squeaky, like a particularly annoying teacher. "To call his great and royal majesty for revenge one needs only to mutter these words.   
  
'I wish the goblins would come and take you away.'   
  
"Oh please!" Solo tossed the book back into Duo's lap with a giggle.  
  
Duo glared at his younger brother as the boy sat down at his computer and pulled out the headphones, intent on listening to his annoying music without them.  
  
"Next thing I know you'll be going back to reading Peter Pan and Snow White!"  
  
"You used to read these books too," Duo pointed out, trying to keep his cool. "As I recall you used to want to read every book I'd ever looked at."  
  
Solo laughed. "And I am so glad I got over that little bit of insanity."  
  
Duo snarled lightly and rolled over in the bed as the techno music started, greeting him with an instant headache. Rolling so his back was to his brother he reopened the book to the exact page his brother had read. He tried his best to ignore the little pest across the room and pretty much succeeded. The picture presented before him was quite beautiful, and didn't look like an anorexic model at all, but rather a very noble king who not only ruled his people justly but also looked damn sexy while he did it. Duo grinned quietly to himself as he reread the words his brother had just read.  
  
"In order to call his great and royal majesty for revenge one need only mutter these words. I wish the goblins would come take you away, right now."  
  
Duo glanced over his shoulder at his brother, who was now completely obvious of him and surfing the net while chatting and murmuring with the incessant noise he called music. Glancing back at the book he smiled a dreamy smile and close his eyes. In his mind he pictured the Goblin King arriving at their window and whisking Solo away along with all the annoying stuff on his side of the room. Duo's parents completely forgot about Solo and he was allowed to retake the other half of the room, proceeding to decorate it with whatever he wanted. And the best part? They ordered pizza every night.  
  
Smiling to himself he pushed the book off the side of the bed and stretched out, curling up with his large purple stuffed dragon. He groaned as his bother's music turned up a notch.  
  
"I wish the goblins would take you away, Solo. Right now. Then things would definitely be better."  
  
Murmuring those words he held the dragon tightly, repeating the happy vision in his mind.  
  
The music snapped off.  
  
Duo opened his eyes in surprise, he'd never known his brother to turn off the music that quickly, especially not in the middle of a song. Sitting up he noticed that the room was significantly darker now as well. Duo spun around, still holding the dragon with one hand and looked around, only to find that all light was gone from the room. His alarm clock wasn't even blinking.  
  
The electricity had gone out?  
  
"Solo? You blow a fuse again?" Duo dropped his dragon and squinted into the darkness. "Solo?"  
  
No answer.  
  
Standing up he moved slowly toward his brother's side of the room, making sure not to step on anything. He soon reached the desk only to find the computer was shut off, it wasn't even humming. He took a step further toward it and something cracked beneath his feet. Duo winced and knelt down; finding it was his brother's headphones.  
  
"Solo? Where'd you go?"  
  
Standing back up he gave a jump and fell to the ground, landing hard as everything electrical in the room switched on at once. The computer whirled to life, the stereo blared, the Christmas lights jumped to life, and everything turned back on.   
  
Duo shielded his eyes from the sudden change of light and swallowed a small cry, meanwhile all around him he began to hear strange sounds like the scurrying of little rat-like feet. Blinking away the spots from his eyes, he stood up and looked around the room. His eyes fixed on the large bay window.  
  
Wings flapped against the window and Duo gasped as he saw the white owl his father had described. Perfect snowy wings and bright blue eyes, truly a sight to behold! He completely forgot about his missing brother and approached the door. Carefully and slowly, as not to scare the magnificent bird, he undid the lock and pulled the two parts of the window open, allowing the bird to fly into the room.   
  
Smiling brightly he watched the owl flap its wings and swoop into the room, landing lightly on Duo's bed. The scurrying sounds stopped almost immediately and the room fell silent, almost as if it were holding its breath and waiting for something. Then the most amazing thing happened.  
  
The owl changed forms.  
  
End of part 1  



	2. Part 2

Author's note: It was brought to my attention that I made a mistake in the first part. Solo is Duo's half-brother, not his step-brother. Oopsies! Thanks Kacfrong711 for pointing it out!  
  
Part 2  
  
Now Duo had read many books which involved shape-shifting characters, be they villains or the good guys, but he'd never dreamed he'd see such a thing in real life. And he never ever dreamed it would happen on his bed of all places! Of all the strange things to happen he just had to have a beautiful and magnificent owl swoop into his room and land on his bed, where it proceeded to change into a man. Meanwhile all Duo could do was stand there dazed as it happened, blinking and rubbing his eyes to constantly test if what he was seeing was real. It wasn't that he wanted this amazing thing to be untrue, but he knew that fantasy was just that, a fantasy. Or at least it was until now.  
  
The owl landed on his patchwork quilt and padded around the bed for a second, as if testing the ground with his claws. After it seemed to be satisfied it ruffled its feathers and began to glow. Wings lengthened into slender arms made of pure white skin, while the head tilted back and shifted into a perfect sculpted face with pale red lips and beautiful shimmering blue eyes, the color of the sky just before sunset. The small clawed legs also grew to become beautifully thin legs wrapped in skintight leather, which look almost to be painted on to his perfect body. The feathers on his back grew; lengthening themselves into a long feathered cloak that spilled off the bed and onto the floor.  
  
Duo reminded himself to breathe as the owl-turned-boy tilted his head and glanced at Duo, a sexy smirk crossing his lips. His eyes shone so brightly from beneath his tousled brown bangs that Duo would have sworn they were stars or something even brighter. Swallowing hard, he couldn't come up with any words, so he just stared.  
  
The strange boy lifted an eyebrow in amusement and stood up from the bed, moving across the room in such a smooth movement, he practically glided over the floor. Soft fingers touched the side of Duo's cheek and slid down his face, cupping around his chin. The strange boy brought their lips to meet and Duo drew in a shuddering gasp. The boy's hands and his lips were as cold as ice! Snapping back to his senses he jumped back, landing on one of Solo's CD cases with a distinct crack.  
  
Laughter chorused around the room but when Duo looked for the source of the noise it stopped and there was nothing. He turned to find the strange boy still smirking and watching him closely.  
  
Duo blinked and his eyes widened. Racing past the boy he jumped onto his bed and retrieved his book from the floor on the other side. Sitting back up he quickly flipped to the page. When he reached it the book fell limply out of his hands and crashed onto the floor, staying open to the page. The strange boy eyed the picture and gained a look of amusement.  
  
"Holy shit!" Duo managed to choke out. "That's you! You're the goblin king!"  
  
The boy nodded and gave a deep flourishing bow. Snickers could be heard around the room once more, but Duo still couldn't find their source.  
  
"And you…you took Solo."  
  
Now the boy stood up from his bow, but still nodded. "As you asked me to," his voice shimmered. Yes, I do mean his voice shimmered. It wasn't really a sound, more like the shimmering of sunlight on glass, a beautiful sound that was soft and sweet, almost like a breeze. Duo shook his head to clear away the words while they seemed to echo softly in his mind.  
  
Duo gathered the book and closed it, setting it back on his bed. "Bring him back."  
  
The smirk melted off the boy's face and he shook his head, just slightly. "I can not. What's said is said."  
  
"You can't be serious! I was only joking!" Despite his seemingly honest wish Duo knew that no matter how annoying his brother got, Solo was still his brother. He couldn't deny that he hadn't enjoyed, at least in a small way, the way his brother had followed him around when they first met and their parents got married. And they fought, true, but no more then any other siblings would have. It wasn't Solo's fault that he'd been particularly annoying on this specific night. After all, Duo was sure there were nights when his brother could barely stand him. So there was no excuse and no real meaning behind the comment of the wish that he'd made. It had been a joke, merely to annoy his brother.  
  
"Once said, words can not be retracted." The boy replied.  
  
Duo frowned deeply. "I didn't mean it, I was only joking because of how annoying he was being, with his music on and all. So it doesn't count! He's not really that annoying and I want him back."  
  
The strange boy shrugged slightly and turned to look at the side of the room that was Solo's. "If he is that annoying then why wish him back? He is gone now, isn't that what you wanted?"  
  
Duo's shoulders wilted slightly. "At the time yes but I-"  
  
The boy turned and faced Duo and Duo paused, not sure what to say in defense of himself. The 'Goblin King' twirled a slender hand before his face and then pointed to Solo's side of the room. Slowly, as if it were a reflection on water shattered by a skipping stone. Solo's things wavered out of existence and Duo's own belongings spread out across the room. A brand new bookshelf appeared against the opposite wall, overflowing with even more books, while various new stuffed animals took the place of Solo's computer books and CDs. Duo's eyes widened and the boy turned back to him with a smirk.  
  
"The room is yours now. And he is forgotten."  
  
Duo shook his head. "Not by me. Where is he?"  
  
The boy's eyes narrowed and all around in the room there were small squeaks of fear as small feet scurried to hide in the shadows. The illusion covering Solo's side of the room snapped out of existence and he glared at Duo, who managed to swallow his fear and glare back.  
  
"Where is my brother? Give him back!"  
  
A gesture and the world outside Duo's window shifted. No longer was it night with a small rainfall brushing against the street below. Instead there was a barren land of sand and brown shrubs, with a vast stone structure in the distance. Twists and curves surrounded a large stone structure that towered over the entire maze. Duo took a few steps forward and blinked in wonder.  
  
"I don't believe this is happening," he murmured softly.  
  
The strange boy walked over and stood next to Duo, side by side. Facing the maze and castle before them he glanced back at the awed boy. "No harm will come to him in my care."  
  
Duo blinked and looked at the boy in confusion. It was almost as if this 'goblin king' was trying to comfort him and rid him of his guilt for wishing his brother away; how strange. But Duo still shook his head, firm in his decision. "No, I need to get him back. He belongs with me, at home."  
  
The boy turned to face Duo completely and stepped back toward the maze, a new gleam in his eyes. He looked excited and intrigued. And Duo could tell it was not often that those eyes expressed such emotions, they had looked so dead when the boy first appeared.  
  
"You have thirteen hours to reach us and take him back. Or I choose my prize." The boy gave a deep bow and disappeared, his image shattering into nothing.  
  
Duo stepped forward quickly, reaching toward him, but not fast enough. "What do you mean you choose your prize?!" He yelled angrily at the blank landscape before him. Nothing answered back. Not even a breeze to sweep up the loose dust and dirt. Duo frowned in confusion but shrugged, deciding he'd worry about that later. Right now he needed to get through the large maze before him and get through it fast. Solo was waiting.   
  
Picking up his feet he headed toward the labyrinth before him, not once looking back toward the room and window from which he came. He didn't need to look to know that his room was gone. Despite that strange boy's words Duo knew he had no intention of letting him just return to his own world. This was now a game to the other boy, a challenge that both had to meet. The other boy found it amusing, Duo didn't. And it only made Duo walk faster to know that he'd beat this challenge and wipe that amused smirk off the other boy's face, for good.  
  
Now from up on the hill the labyrinth laid out before Duo had merely looked impressive and fun, almost like a huge playground looked to a kid as soon as it was warm enough to play safely on the metal bars, wonder and enjoyment seemed to be everywhere. However, as Duo drew closer to the large stone structure, his sense of adventure and fun faltered. Even the grin he'd painted across his face wilted as he came to realize exactly how tall those walls were. And if the height of the walls were any indication…  
  
"I'm never gonna get through this mess in thirteen hours!" He exclaimed in exasperation as he came face to face with the first wall. He sighed loudly, blowing the bangs up from his face. Still, he would not turn back. Walking along the expertly laid wall he searched for a door, and found absolutely nothing.  
  
In fact he probably walked around the smooth wall for a good hour and still found no hint about how to get in. The scenery around him didn't change either, no matter how far he walked. Just sand and brown plants, dotting the world around him which seemed endless in the other direction. The only thing of any note was a small manmade pond lined with moss and algae covered bricks. The water was a light yellowish color, matching the landscape perfectly.  
  
Growling in frustration at the wall Duo turned his back to it and sat down in front of the pond. Resting his chin on his hands he closed his eyes and tried to think of what to do next. Before him he heard a soft splash. Duo's eyes snapped open but he was greeted by nothing, even the water was still, not a single ripple. Frowning he leaned forward and peered into the pool, at a loss for what else to do in his current situation.  
  
As mentioned before there was nothing spectacular about the little pond, the water didn't even look drinkable. Duo couldn't see to the bottom so it seemed to be pretty deep. Other than that, though, there was nothing even worth mentioning about it. Still, Duo received the shock of his life when he spotted his reflection.  
  
It wasn't him!  
  
Peering back up at him from the other side of the water was a thin and angular face with long brown hair, which covered one eye. A shimmering green eye looked back at Duo while scales laced down the side of his face and across his body. Webbed ears stuck out from the sides of his head and when Duo brought his hand over the water he found the reflection's fingers were webbed with light green skin.  
  
"What the-"  
  
Reaching forward Duo ran his fingers along the surface of the water, the reflection moving with him. But when his fingers touched the water's surface he didn't feel the water, he felt soft skin. Duo jerked his hand back in surprise, as did the reflection.  
  
"What are you?" He asked softly.  
  
This time the reflection didn't mimic his movements. Instead it rose out of the water, revealing itself to be a boy, slightly taller and thinner built then Duo himself. The boy rose out of the water and stepped lightly onto the sand surrounding the pool. Glancing at Duo he blinked and proceeded to shake the water off of his scaled body much the same way a dog or cat would have. Once finished with this the boy turned to just look at Duo, as if waiting.  
  
"Ooookay," Duo said, taking a deep breath. "I take it you live in that pool?"  
  
"Some of the time." The boys' voice was a soft tenor and almost as emotionless as the Goblin King's had been. Still, he had answered, so Duo tried another question.  
  
"Do you know how to get into the labyrinth?"  
  
The boy nodded. "Of course, I live here."  
  
Duo grinned. "Great! So can you tell me how to get in?"  
  
"No."  
  
Duo's grin melted away. "Why the heck not?!"  
  
The merboy shrugged and sat down next to the pool, moving in motions that were as calm as the pool itself. "Heero-sama ordered me not to."  
  
Duo rolled his eyes. "Oh man! Not fair! This game is rigged!" In frustration he kicked a small hill of sand toward the pool and watched the tiny rocks sprinkle into the water. The merboy continued to watch him quietly. "So how the heck am I supposed to get in there and get to the castle?"  
  
The merboy shrugged once more. "You are to ask me."  
  
"What?! I just did but you said you couldn't tell me how to get in?" Duo clenched his hands into fists and forced himself to just stand there. He forced himself not to strangle the merboy before him, no matter how much he wanted to.  
  
The merboy flashed him a look as if to say that the answer should be so obvious. It didn't help with Duo's resolution not to punch him. Standing up the boy brushed away the sand which had stuck to his wet scales. "I can not tell you," he said softly, walking past Duo and heading to the wall. "But I can show you."  
  
With those words the boy placed his webbed hands against the wall and opened his mouth. A sweet tune drifted from his lips, a song that seemed to caress the listener merely then touch their ears. Duo watched in amazement as the wall before the boy shifted to reveal an opening, just large enough for him to walk through. Duo raced over to the wall and walked through the opening, making sure it wasn't another illusion.  
  
It wasn't.  
  
Turning back he smiled at the merboy, and now the urge to punch him was replaced with an urge to hug him tightly in thanks. Once again Duo resisted. Duo turned to start into the labyrinth but paused and turned back to the merboy, who still stood there watching silently.  
  
"Umm… do you have a name?"  
  
A scale-covered eyebrow arched in question and then the boy shrugged. "Trowa," he spoke softly.  
  
Duo grinned. "Thanks a lot Trowa!" Then he raced off down the passage.  
  
Trowa stepped into the passage and watched after him with a look of amusement. In fact, he chuckled softly. Turning his head he glanced toward the castle, whose outline could just barely be made out in the sky.  
  
"You're allowing a human into your territory Heero? What's so special about this boy? Why treat him any differently then the others?"  
  
Silence surrounded Trowa and he closed his eyes, not really expecting an answer. Shrugging to himself he turned back to the opening and waved a hand. A swirl of water from the pool lifted up and sealed itself over the opening, shifting to match the wall. Once again there was no door in sight, only this time both Duo and Trowa were now within the labyrinth. Chuckling softly to himself Trowa started down the passageway, following the path the braided boy had taken.  
  
end of part 2  
  
**  



	3. Part 3

Part 3  
  
In fantasy stories, castles are told to be places of wonder. Those huge finely built structures of stone that are surrounded and guarded by heroic knights, fire-breathing dragons and enchanted plants. There's always a beautiful princess trapped in the highest tower and a dashing young prince ready to ride in on his horse and save her. Or the castle holds a kind and loving king with his beautiful and wise queen. From their home they rule the lands with justice and compassion, reaching forward to take care of their people.  
  
Rarely, if ever, are castles told to be things of dirt, danger and filth. But that is exactly what Solo saw when he looked around him. One minute he'd been sitting in his room at his computer, the next he was sitting in a circular indent surrounded by high stone walls, literally crawling with creatures he'd only dreamed of. At first he'd blinked, thinking it was some weird dream, but when the hundreds of sets of curious eyes didn't disappear then he knew something else was going on. Just where the heck was he?  
  
Now granted, he had no idea if he really was in a castle, but there were a few things that pointed to that conclusion. First of all there was the structure of the room he was in. The walls were made of roughly cut marble like stone, which rose up around him and stopped at a ceiling made of exactly the same material. Also, the floor he sat on was of the same stone, polished to smoothness by thousands of small feet and the wear and tear of years of use. Out side the window he could see clouds, a dark sky seemingly caught somewhere between night and day, as if nature itself couldn't decide what time of day it was and decided to stop everything until the problem was resolved.  
  
But of all the strange surroundings the biggest hint to Solo that he was in a castle was the large stone chair sitting on one side of the room. Notably not a single one of the strange little creatures around him sat near the chair. In fact they all stayed away from it and didn't even glance in its direction, which lead Solo to believe it was a royal throne of some sort, that it belonged to someone of great importance. Solo snorted softly, with his luck and judging from the strange creatures around him; the owner of that large stone chair was probably a giant ugly troll.   
  
Standing to his feet the creatures around him went silent and all watched him with wide eyes. Before they'd been scampering around him, speaking in hushed squeaky voices about things that Solo didn't care to hear, he wasn't really interested. But he was interested in the large throne before him, if nothing else with its brightly embroidered cushions it looked much more comfortable then his spot on the floor. Stepping toward it he realized that it was polished to a smooth shine, and it glimmered in the strange twilight coming from the window and various hanging light orbs around the room.  
  
Reaching forward he ran his fingers over the edge of the cushions, not all surprised to find the fabric to be very like silk, soft and velvety to the touch.  
  
"Don't do that!"  
  
Solo jumped as one of the creatures in the room hissed at him. Glancing down to his feet he found a few of them tugging at his jeans, trying to urge him away from the throne. Frowning he shook his leg from their grip. When they let go he turned his attention back to the throne and stepped closer to it, running his hands over the intricate embroidered designs.  
  
All around him it was as if the world itself were holding its breath. There wasn't a sound, no one moved in the room but Solo. All the little creatures were frozen, just watching him with wild and scared amber eyes, waiting for something to happen. A small amount of them almost shivered with fear, but Solo didn't notice. Leaning forward he brought his face closer to the designs, trying to figure what the heck they were. Red, green and purple thread danced across the fabric in gentle twists and turns, circling from one cushion to another as if they were all connected, which he knew they weren't. Frowning he took a step back, thinking perhaps that would help him figure out exactly what he was looking at. But as he stepped backward he bumped into someone.  
  
Solo whirled around in surprise to find another boy, about Duo's age, standing behind him with his arms crossed and a disapproving look on his face. Solo's eyes locked with the boy's, finding them to be the brightest blue he'd ever seen, deep sapphire flames seemed to dance within those eyes, making them change color just slightly with each second. Solo swallowed, whoever this person in front of him was, he wasn't human!  
  
"Where am I?" Solo choked out, trying to calm his fear. It occurred to him that he could have asked this question of any one of the strange little creatures now cowering at the other boy's feet, but he felt strange talking to things that had to be a figment of his imagination. They were figments of his imagination right? This couldn't be real!  
  
The boy tilted his head to the side just the tiniest bit, almost as if to say the answer should be obvious, even to Solo. "You are in my realm," he responded quietly, his soft voice sending a shiver down Solo's back.   
  
Solo took a step to the side as the other boy moved around him and gracefully draped himself upon the cushioned throne. A small smile of contentment crossed his face and his eyes drifted back to Solo.  
  
"Your realm?" Solo wondered softly.  
  
The boy gestured to the window.  
  
Turning slowly Solo moved toward the window, the many small creatures around the room parting around his feet so they wouldn't be stepped on. As he walked sound slowly drifted back into the room and the creatures began whispering back and forth once again. Soon it was all in full swing, with them dancing around and talking, yelling at each other like ill disciplined children. But Solo wasn't paying attention. All he cared about was the view the window provided him.  
  
He found he was indeed inside a castle, or at least in some structure which included a tower. Below him the landscape rolled out to reveal something one could have only imagined in, perhaps, a very twisted fairy tale. A huge maze surrounded them, made of various materials, almost as if it were some grand garden decoration. Each building material was arranged in an artful fashion so it wasn't merely intimidating to look at, but also beautiful. And it was huge! He would have sworn the twists and turns of the labyrinth that surrounded them carried on for miles! Even if he did ever wish to get out of this tower there was no way he'd find his way out of the maze surrounding them. In fact he pitied anyone who even stepped foot in there.  
  
"Why did you bring me here?" Solo asked without looking back at the boy behind him. He couldn't stop looking at the maze below him; it was such a wonder.  
  
"He asked me to."  
  
Solo turned at that and looked at the boy in confusion. "He?" He frowned but something spoke up in his mind. The last words he remembered his brother saying before he'd appeared here. Duo had made a wish, a wish that someone would come and take Solo away... "Duo asked you to?"  
  
The boy nodded. "He's in there, you know." The boy added softly after a moment of silence. His voice was filled with amusement. "He's quite stubborn."  
  
Solo turned back to look at the maze. Duo was in that labyrinth surrounding the castle?! Oh man! There was no way he'd find his way out! "He's supposed to get through and find me isn't he?"  
  
The boy nodded, still clearly amused at the thought.  
  
"What happens if he makes it?"  
  
The boy stood up and shrugged, causing the silvery feathers on his cloak to ripple. "Then you go home."  
  
"And if he doesn't?"  
  
The boy chuckled, very softly. "Then I choose my prize." With a soft whisper of feathers and movement the boy was now standing behind Solo, his eyes also gazing out at the magnificent structure.  
  
"He won't make it," the boy whispered softly, his face near Solo's ear.  
  
At those words Solo felt his heart drop and his stomach clench up. The strange boy behind him was right. There was no way anyone could make it through that maze. He bit his lip and just continued to stare out the window, but he couldn't summon up any hope. He had no idea what the strange boy behind him would choose as his prize, but whatever it was... Solo had a feeling he'd be looking out at this view for a very very long time.  
  
**  
  
With a hard and heavy sigh Duo dropped to the ground and seated himself upon a thick piece of wood. Almost immediately there was a crack and the rotting wood shattered beneath him, causing him to land hard on the uneven stone covered ground. Duo gave a small cry and shifted to rub his now very sore butt.  
  
"Great, just great. Of all the places for you to sit down Duo, ouch!" He winced and pulled a particularly sharp rock out from under him and threw it down the passageway, watching it skip and few times then land quietly on the ground. He sighed once more. Closing his eyes he leaned his head back against the wall and took a break, letting himself relax. He'd long ago lost how long he'd been walking and he was now most definitely lost in the labyrinth.  
  
After several twists and turns he'd completely given up on trying to figure out which was he was headed or which way he'd come from, it was just too much. So many twists and turns that it made his head spin. In fact, he could have sworn that whenever he hit a dead end and doubled back the walls switched on him. And if that were the case then there was no point in trying to keep track, so instead he just kept wandering, picking turns and passageways at random and just hoping for the best. Had he been better prepared he might have tried to draw a map, but once again if the walls moved then there was really no point.  
  
"At this rate I'm gonna be stuck in here forever," Duo muttered angrily.  
  
"OH? Great! That's all we need! Another human trapped in the labyrinth!"  
  
Duo's eyes snapped open and he looked around, but he didn't find a single person around him. Shifting he sat up and peered around again, this time his eyes settled on a little white rat with bright blue eyes and a bright annoying pink bow on her tail. He blinked and looked again, but the rat still sat there, glaring back at him.  
  
"Did you just...?"  
  
The rat nodded and gave a small hiss. "Yeah, that was me. And yes I was telling the truth, there is no way Heero-sama would let you wander around here until you die. We don't like your kind here."  
  
Duo frowned. "Wonderful," he noted in a sarcastic tone. "So then what will happen to me if I don't get through the labyrinth?"  
  
The rat seemed to grin at that and another crawled up behind her, this one's fur holding a murky yellow tint and her tail split at the end to become forked. Both rats grinned at him. "Simple," the yellowish rat murmured. "He'll probably give you to us, we haven't had a real treat in a long time."  
  
Duo's eyes widened and he stood up, taking a few steps back from the pair. Not that he was particularly afraid of rats but he didn't like the way these two were looking at him, and he definitely didn't like what the last one had just said. Lets just say that the prospect of being devoured by dozens of rats was not one he wanted to try out.   
  
The two rats jumped down from their ledge on the rock wall and moved toward him, still grinning. "Or we could just clear up everything now. You really don't want to walk around this labyrinth much more, do you? How about we save you all that trouble."  
  
Duo shook his head and kept backing up, turning slowly around another corner. "Uhh, no thanks. I really don't mind the walk, it's good exercise." He swallowed as he noticed a large amount of rats slowly flowing from the hole where the first two had appeared. His eyes widened and he backed up faster as they approached him.  
  
The first two, the ones with the pink bow and the forked tail, dove at him. Duo dodged out of the way and whirled around, bolting down the passageway as fast as he could move. Behind him he heard the small feet, scurrying after him as fast as their little feet could carry them, which was far too fast for his comfort. Turning around a corner, he chanced a glance over his shoulder, only to find the passageway behind him covered from wall to wall with thousands of small furry bodies. Duo forced himself to run faster and as a consequence wasn't paying attention when he turned the next corner.  
  
He saw the large hole in front of him but wasn't able to stop. Stumbling over the edge he gave a cry and he tumbled down into the darkness.  
  
**  
  
Heero glanced up as a small bell rang in the large chambers. Around him the various goblins and creatures were taking more of an interest in Solo, actually trying to talk and joke with him. Beside that Solo seemed to be calming down. After his initial shock had worn off he'd flown into a fury and demanded to be released, even attempted escape. These actions had lasted for about an hour until he finally gave up.  
  
Well, no, gave up isn't the right phrase. Instead he'd stopped trying after Heero had completely informed him of the hopelessness of the situation. He'd even offered to let the boy into the labyrinth so he could find his own way home. Solo had declined.  
  
For a young teenage kid he took the facts pretty well, he didn't seem that surprised that his brother had wished him away or that his brother was now searching for him. In fact he seemed to have settled to the fact that all he could currently do was wait, which was fine with Heero. As long as the kid was semi-contented he wouldn't panic and wouldn't realize what was actually going on.  
  
Currently Solo's attentions were occupied by a small group of goblins that were attempting to teach him a rather simple game. The rest were clustered around; watching in amazement as the human boy joined in and attempted to learn. It wasn't often that they found humans in their company, and even then the humans didn't last long. But it was a welcome distraction. Heero knew that all the small creatures held the same wish as himself. Just this once, maybe just this time the transformation wouldn't happen. Maybe the human boy would remain human and continue to stay with them. But no, in the end they always changed.  
  
He directed his attention back to the bell and stood from his throne, moving toward a small abandoned well in the back corner of the room. He seated himself quietly on the stone edging and dipped a slender finger in the water, watching the murky reflections swirl around. Before him a young face appeared; it was the boy from the entrance of the labyrinth.  
  
"What have you to report?" Heero asked in a low tone. He made sure the others in the room didn't hear him, he didn't want to distract Solo or remind him of where his brother was.  
  
Trowa flowed up from the water so his head broke the surface, but otherwise remained floating gently. As he spoke the gills on his neck rippled, getting used the breathing air from both the water and above it. "He has fallen into the obliettes."  
  
Heero frowned. This was a most interesting turn out. Duo had managed to reach the obliettes already? Even given a map or living in the labyrinth for most of their lives not many could make such good time, especially when they were only on two legs and had no magic or special talents. Still, Duo's persistence only made him more intriguing, even if Heero had no intention of letting the boy win.   
  
"Shall I leave him there, sire?" Trowa asked softly.  
  
A moment's thought and then Heero shook his head. No, it would seem too much like cheating to leave the boy locked up as his hours ticked away and his brother transformed. Better to let him still have the illusion that there was a chance to win. Better to let him think he still had a fair chance. Cheating only works when the other party doesn't notice what you are doing.  
  
"No." Heero chewed thoughtfully on the end of one finger. "I have a better idea, take him back to the beginning."  
  
Trowa raised a thin, scaled eyebrow but knew better then to ask questions. "Beyond the door?"  
  
Heero nodded. He realized he wasn't exactly being fair to the boy, but he wanted his prize and why not take advantage of the current situation? If the opportunity arose he would take it; it was just that simple. He'd deal with Duo's complaints after the fact. But he was determined not to lose, especially with this human. His eyes focused back on Trowa and he frowned. "Go."  
  
The merboy nodded and dropped back into the water, disappearing from sight with a flick of his webbed and scale covered feet. Soon the water settled and Heero was left watching a muddied reflection of the old stone ceiling. A moment later he dipped his finger in the water again, causing the reflection to fade away once more. Yet this time it was replaced with the image of a dark room filled with nothing but a small form.  
  
Setting his chin on one knee Heero gazed into the water at the unconscious beauty before him. The human boy was a mystery to him, and a rarity. It was very rare for one his age to be so enraptured with the things humans called 'fantasies'. Finding a young boy who was so lovely and so well versed in the worlds which weren't his own was certainly a   
find. Heero wasn't about to let him go. Not now, not ever. He felt he wanted to possess this beautiful boy before him, and that's exactly what he decided to do.  
  
He would possess Duo. Duo would not make it through the Labyrinth. And in the end Heero would claim his prize.  
  
End of part 3  



	4. Part 4

Part 4  
  
Unconsciousness stinks. All those movies one will see, and all the books one will read, tell of someone being knocked out and then waking up soon afterward. And they always wake up just in time to run away, or to have the sun shining into their eyes, or to escape their impending doom. Despite all these popular notions there is only one thing that Duo   
Maxwell woke up to.  
  
A huge headache.  
  
He groaned loudly and rolled onto his back, holding his head as the darkness around him swirled. Opening his eyes he was surprised to find the world around him didn't change. Oddly enough the room he was lying in was just as black as the back of his eyelids. Making sure his eyes were actually open he scanned the ceiling for any sign of light or anything, but he couldn't make out a single thing. Sitting up he reached his hand above his head. Nothing. He repeated the motion as he stood, still nothing.   
  
He couldn't reach the ceiling.  
  
There wasn't a single light in the room!  
  
Quickly he reached into his pockets and tried to see what he had, but they were unfortunately empty. Walking carefully he moved around the dark area, trying to find a wall or something. But he had no luck. Sighing softly he dropped to sitting once more and running a hand through his bangs.  
  
"He's cheating, he's gonna keep me locked here until the hours are up. It's NOT FAIR!"  
  
Duo paused and yelled once again, listening to his words bounce off the walls and ceiling he'd been unable to find.  
  
"YOU HEAR ME? NOT FAIR!"  
  
Behind him there was a small amount of scratching and he turned, to find himself blinded. Duo quickly shut his eyes and put his hands up to shield his face. After a few moments he slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the sudden change in light and surroundings. Blinking he found part of the room lit up quite brightly by an old dripping candle.   
  
The candle was held in the hand of the merboy he'd met at the entrance, Trowa. He also found, upon inspection, that the merboy sat next to yet another murky pond that made the sewers look clean. The merboy's eyes settled on Duo.  
  
"I'm sure he heard." Trowa said softly.  
  
"Good," Duo said, standing up. "Then he'll let me out of here, right?"  
  
Trowa shrugged. "It's not Heero-sama's fault you fell in this hole."  
  
"That's not the point!"   
  
"Oh?"  
  
Duo opened his mouth to respond but stopped. Trowa had a point; it wasn't Heero's fault. He could clearly remember he fell in the hole because he wasn't watching where he was going, so it was all his fault. Duo sighed softly and glanced back around the now lit room. He found it to be a simple cave with a black metal door above them and nothing else beside the murky pool.  
  
"So how do I get out?"  
  
"Two ways," Trowa said, setting the candle on the ground and stepping up beside Duo. "You could go back up," he said with a nod of his head.  
  
Duo frowned deeply. "I'll take my chance with the other way, thank you very much."  
  
Trowa shrugged. "Or you can take the route I used." With those words he nodded to the murky pool.   
  
"Go for a swim?" Duo walked over to the small pool and gagged. It even smelled like a sewer. He glanced back to Trowa. "And how exactly does this work aside from getting me soaked from head to toe?"  
  
Trowa smirked quietly and walked over to the pond, dipping his scaled toe into the water. "You follow me and I'll lead you out."  
  
"To where?"  
  
"The pond you met me at before." Trowa took another step into the water but Duo grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back.  
  
"Are you kidding?! You're going to take me all the way to the beginning? There's got to be some other way."  
  
Trowa shook his head. "Certain ponds in the area are connected, but this pond leads to the one outside the main gates. There is nothing I can do about that."  
  
Duo's eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything. Instead he made a great show of sighing loudly and throwing his arms up in the air. After this he turned back to Trowa and tapped his foot. "Well, lead on then, the sooner I get out of here the sooner I can make up for time lost."  
  
Emerald eyes traveled over Duo's face for a moment, but then Trowa let it drop. He didn't like how Duo had made the huge show of giving up, but then again he wasn't about to say anything. He could easily tell the boy was planning something, and a large part of him didn't want to stop the boy. All the circumstances surrounding this boy and Heero were quite interesting, something he wanted to see, and he wanted to know how things would turn out. Yet he didn't dare cross the Goblin King, especially not in the land he ruled.   
  
Like it or not he had to lead Duo back to the beginning, no matter how much he wanted to help the boy.  
  
Beckoning to Duo he stepped farther out into the small pond and then descended down below the surface. The boy followed, after taking a deep breath. Trowa couldn't help but laugh silently at that; there was no way the boy could hold his breath that long. Turning around in the water he swam over to Duo, and before the boy could protest, placed his lips over Duo's.  
  
Duo's eyes grew wide and he tried to pull away, but he stopped as he felt the thick and salty air being pushed into his lungs. He understood what Trowa was doing and nodded, letting the boy pull away and beckon for him to follow. Swimming quickly the two boys swam to the bottom of the pool where there was a strange shadowy like doorway.  
  
Duo found, as he swam, that he didn't need to worry about his breath, it was almost as if he'd been given temporary gills from Trowa. Pondering this thought he realized that he would probably be able to swim around underwater for a while because of it. On this thought he began to carefully watch their surroundings as he followed the merboy through the passage. He began to notice small patches of black all around them, all in the shapes of small ponds and openings.  
  
He grinned to himself and changed directions on a whim, swimming for one of the shadows and leaving Trowa forgotten.  
  
Trowa felt the shift in the movement of the water behind him and whirled around, just in time to see Duo disappear through one of the passages. His eyes widened in surprise and he moved his feet, sending himself flying after Duo. He couldn't let the boy just wander; there was no telling where he could turn up! Not to mention that if he didn't take Duo back to the beginning of the labyrinth Heero would be angry as all hell. He'd planned on pointing the way out to Duo for how to get to the castle, but letting him end up somewhere besides the beginning was out of the question.  
  
Swimming quickly Trowa still found himself far behind Duo and didn't catch up before Duo reached the connecting pond and his head broke the surface. Without pausing Duo scrambled out of the pond and onto the forest like area around him. Standing up and shaking off the excess water, then ringing it out of his clothes as much as he could without taking them off, he peered around. Behind him Trowa's head burst the surface.  
  
"Just what do you think you are doing?" Trowa demanded in a soft voice.  
  
"Heading for the castle, going to get my brother." Duo replied matter-of-factly as he squeezed the excess water from his braid. "Without your help."  
  
Trowa frowned. "I was instructed to take you back to the beginning."  
  
Duo turned and flashed a 'devil-could-care' grin at Trowa. "Well, go tell Heero that I outsmarted you and leave it at that. I'm leaving and heading back for the castle. Thanks for showing me the way out."  
  
Tossing his braid back over his shoulder he started down the path; surrounded by hedge walls full of thick thorns.  
  
Trowa raced after him, scaled feet leaving wet footprints across the dusty ground. Catching up to the boy he grabbed his wrist, pulling Duo to a stop. "You don't understand," he said softly. "I have to take you back to the beginning."  
  
Duo yanked his hand away angrily. "No, you don't understand. I'm going to go save Solo, and that's all there is to it!"  
  
The merboy's hand dropped away and he just watched Duo with worried eyes. Duo immediately felt guilty.  
  
"Look, he can't blame you for this, just say I got away and it's not your fault. I'm the one who ran off so he shouldn't blame you right?"  
  
Trowa shook his head. "It doesn't work like that."  
  
"He'll still blame you for letting me go?"  
  
Trowa nodded.  
  
Duo sighed heavily. "I'm not going back to the beginning, I can't afford to, not with all the time I've wasted. But...but you can come with me to the palace and when I get there I'll explain what happened to Heero and that it wasn't your fault. Whether I win or not I'll make sure he doesn't blame you for this." Duo placed a comforting hand on Trowa's scaled shoulder. "Ok?"  
  
Trowa watched him for a moment, pondering his words, then slowly nodded.  
  
"Unfortunately," said a voice behind them. "I blame who I want to, regardless of a human boy's personal feelings."  
  
Both boys turned to see Heero step out from behind a thorn hedge. He wore deep black clothing and his eyes were set in an angry glare, aimed straight at Trowa. Trowa took a step back in surprise and mild fear. Granted he'd been intrigued with how Heero and Duo had been reacting toward each other, but he'd never planned to become so directly involved!  
  
"Trowa," Heero said softly as he approached them. "You failed in the task I set for you."  
Trowa took another step back.  
  
"It wasn't his fault," Duo said quickly, stepping between the boys. "I'm the one who figured out that all the waterways connected. After all, it only makes sense in a place like this."  
  
Heero shook his head. "That does not matter, the point is he failed." Ignoring Duo, the Goblin King moved toward the merboy, looking quite angry.  
  
Duo frowned deeply and walked up to him, blocking his path. Without even a pause he slapped the king across his face. Heero froze and the glare disappeared from his face to be replaced with a look of shock. Slowly, in disbelief, his hand reached up to rest on his now stinging cheek. His eyes shifted to Duo's face.  
  
"You just don't listen to anyone, do you?" Duo yelled angrily. "I said it wasn't his fault. You take my brother and now you're going to get pissed off at one of the few people in this place who would help me, even though its my fault he's in trouble in the first place? No! Just leave Trowa and the other residents of this maze out of this. The challenge here is between you and me, no one else!"  
  
The Goblin King blinked in surprise, his mind still processing the fact that someone had actually dared to slap him across the face. He opened his mouth to respond, to respond somehow, but he couldn't. The words just wouldn't come. No one, not even those who had raised him had ever dared to lay a hand upon him, especially not in a scolding manner. But now, this boy...  
  
Heero's eyes narrowed. How dare this boy touch him! On his face no less! Heero's eyes narrowed dangerously and he took his hand from his cheek, revealing that Duo had left a rather large red handprint. He took a step back from the two and his glare intensified.  
  
"Trowa, you have made your own choice, and will be dealt with accordingly. Let it also be known that any who chose to side with this human will be dealt with in the same manner."  
  
Duo snarled angrily at the king. "I protect my friends, just like I protect my siblings. You won't lay a finger on him or anyone else, I'll make sure of it."  
  
The two boys stood there, their eyes narrowed dangerously and anger filling the air. Then Heero lifted his arms and shifted shape into a rather large owl. Flapping his wings he took off once again, flying for the castle at the center of the labyrinth.  
  
Trowa swallowed where he stood, watching the owl fly off into the sky and out of sight. Slowly he turned to Duo.   
  
"We should get moving," Duo said, letting his anger melt away.  
  
The merboy didn't move.   
  
Duo glanced back at him. "Trowa? Are you coming with?"  
  
"Did you mean that?"  
  
Duo raised an eyebrow. "Mean what?"  
  
"About protecting me...and my being a friend." He added the last part softly, almost as if he were embarrassed, or afraid it wasn't true.  
  
Duo smiled. "Yeah, I meant it. It's not your fault I swam down the other path and I'm not going to let him punish you for it. And yes, you are a friend, or at least the closest thing I have to one in this place."  
  
Slowly, Trowa returned a very small smile. He nodded in agreement.   
  
Satisfied Duo turned and started down the path in front of them, but Trowa frowned and raced up to his side. "This way," he said, pointing down a different path in the hedges.  
  
"You don't have to show me the way."  
  
Trowa chuckled softly. "Yes I do. The look on Heero-sama's face when you slapped him was priceless. It's about time someone showed him exactly where in the world he stands. I'm going to help you save your brother."  
  
Duo grinned. "Alright! That way it is then."  
  
And with that the two travelling companions started down the paths, walking deep into the thorn hedges. They would make it to the castle and save Solo yet.  
  
End of Part 4  



	5. Part 5

Part 5  
  
They say that battles make for odd bedfellows. So too do journeys make for strange travelling companions. But there is a famous old saying that describes this situation perfectly:  
  
"You and I may be different, but as long as we have the same enemy we shall walk the same path." (1)  
  
And so it was with Duo and his new companion, the merboy named Trowa. The two seemed to be the most unlikely pair to travel the labyrinth and take on the Goblin King but they were determined to follow through on their journey, and they truly meant to win in the end.  
  
After the conversation concerning being friends and the decision to stand together the two walked down the path Trowa had indicated at a fairly steady pace. Their walk was punctuated occasionally by pointless conversation, or by Duo's small complaints about the labyrinth as a whole, but otherwise nothing too important actually came up. In fact, surprisingly enough, both stayed pretty silent. Well, at least they did until they came to one particular opening in the thorn hedges which opened to a completely new section of the maze.   
  
Now, instead of thorn hedges and thick twisting vines, the walls were made of thin red material which had deep purple veins running through it and actually pulsated. The walls themselves seemed to be made of living organs from a creatures' body. (2) Heat and the sounds of constant beating flowed out from this new section and Trowa immediately stopped, taking a few steps back.  
  
Duo glanced at the new walls, then back to Trowa. "Disgusting! What's wrong?"  
  
Trowa shook his head. "I can't go in there, it's too hot. I'm pushing it as it is right now. I need to stay near water or I'll dry out and die." He flashed a helpless look to Duo. "I can't follow with you into that section."  
  
"So we'll just take a different route." Duo said with a shrug, turning away from the new area.  
  
The merboy shook his head. "That's the fastest way to the castle, you would lose to much time if you tried to find another way."  
  
Duo frowned and glanced back at the new area. "Can you meet me on the other side? I mean, when I pass through?"  
  
"I can try, but this labyrinth is always changing, it may take me a while to find you again when you come back out."  
  
"Ok." Duo took a deep breath. "That works. Heh, I know you'll be able to find me, and I guess I can do this part alone. Here's good luck to me, hopefully I'll see you on the other side."  
  
Trowa nodded and flashed a light smile.  
  
Turning away from Trowa Duo stepped into the heat; his feet landing on a ground that felt like he was walking on a waterbed. The ground beneath him swayed slightly with each step and he could feel the heat ebbing up through his shoes. He made a face and took a few more steps forward.   
  
It took a while to get used to walking on the strange surface but he did finally get the hang of it. After that he just simply had to deal with the revolting idea that he was basically walking on a part of the maze that seemed to be living. His steps were slow and careful, to make sure he didn't trip, because he certainly didn't want to fall and have to touch that strange floor or the strange wall with his bare hands. The whole idea just grossed him out.  
  
"Whoever created this maze was really on something, this is just gross!"   
  
Up ahead and around the corner he heard strange noises, voices? Duo walked to the opening and listened carefully, refusing to touch the wall and peek around the side just yet.  
  
"Didn't you hear me? Get out!"  
  
There was the sound of something crackling and a few higher pitched voices squeaked in fear.   
  
Duo finally gathered his courage and grasped the pulsating wall, finding it to feel like living Jell-O, and peeked around the corner.  
  
His eyes were treated to a very strange and confusing vision. What he saw were two short little men in thick black armor with long spears. There was a wall of fire separating them from this strange little boy who looked perfectly normal. In fact, he looked just like a human child about Solo's age except he had very long and pointy ears.   
  
The two guards were busy poking their spears through the wall of fire, trying to hit the boy while the flames danced between them and the boy backed away.   
  
Duo stood there for a long moment, just watching, and finally decided that he liked the little blond boy better, so that's who he'd help. Turning he surveyed the area around him but found nothing of use to help. Then he got an idea. Running back down the path he'd come from he wove his way through the passages until he was relatively sure he was right behind the blond boy, only one pulsating wall between them. Swallowing hard his revulsion to the idea he grabbed a hold of the pulsating purple veins and climbed the wall.  
  
Oddly enough he found the wall quite easy to climb and it took no time at all for him to reach the top. Quickly he reached over the side and yelled at the boy.  
  
"Hey! Over here!" Holding his arm down he waved to the boy, gesturing for him to come over and grab on.  
  
The little boy jumped in surprise, but recovered quickly. With a single glance toward the two approaching men he turned and raced over to where Duo was, grabbing his arm. Duo held tight to the boy's wrist and hauled him up onto the top of the wall, until finally they were both sitting safely on the strange pulsating material. The boy then turned and looked down at the guards below.  
  
"Get back here! How dare you run away from us!" One of them yelled, trying to hit the two with his spear.  
  
The little boy chuckled softly. "I warned you to stay out of my home, perhaps this will make you listen next time."   
  
With those words the boy's eyes flashed to a bright red and flames sprung up all over the floor, surrounding the two guards. The flames danced around them in shades of brilliant red and yellow, almost reaching the tops of the walls. Crying out in pain and fear the two dropped their spears and fled down the passageway as quickly as they could.  
  
As soon as they were gone, the flames disappeared and the boy jumped the to ground, causing it to bounce just slightly as it adjusted to his weight. Spinning around on one heel he turned a curious smile toward Duo.  
  
"You can come down, it's safe now."  
  
Duo nodded and jumped to the ground, almost losing his balance and falling flat on his face as the ground below him wavered. Recovering quickly he looked at the boy in wonder. Upon this closer inspection he found that the boy was indeed as far from human as one could get. He had long pointed ears, surrounded by softly curled short hair which carried a strange strawberry tint. His skin, though it had looked white as pearl before, was actually a very faint pink while his eyes shifted between light blue and bright red. He wore a tunic and leggings made of black fabric with the designs of flames embroidered all around. Smiling sweetly the boy gave a small bow, and a small red tail flickered from behind his back.  
  
"Thanks for the help. You're human aren't you?" The little boy asked, revealing that his teeth were actually quite sharp and all came to a point.  
  
Duo's eyes widened as he realized exactly what he was staring at. This boy was every bit the stereotypical demon! He stumbled backward in surprise. "Umm, yeah." He responded weakly.  
  
The little demon chuckled. "I seem to have scared you. Don't worry, I'm not going to roast and toast you, I don't like the taste, or the smell for that matter, of cooked human flesh."  
  
Duo eased, but only slightly. "And raw?"  
  
The little demon snickered some more. "No thanks. No offense but you humans have really tough skin, it is such a pain for us fire demons to bite through. And anyway, I make it a practice not to eat those who have helped me. So you're off the hook."  
  
"Great, thanks… I think." Duo ran a nervous hand over his braid.   
  
"I'm called Quatre, and you must be the human the walls have been telling me so much about."  
  
"The walls talk?" Duo asked, glancing toward them in wonder.  
  
"You can't hear it?" Quatre walked over to one of the walls and slowly slid his hand down the side. "If you listen carefully you can hear it in their heart beat, they whisper about everything that goes in the labyrinth, even about how you slapped the Goblin King." Quatre's eyes took on a glint of childish glee. "I would have loved to have seen that."  
  
"Don't say that too loudly, or he might get mad at you too," Duo murmured.  
  
Quatre smirked. "I'm not worried, after all he's just a child, there isn't much he can do to an older demon such as myself."  
  
Duo raised an eyebrow. Heero was just a child? A child compared to what? "So umm… do you know which path will take me toward the castle?"  
  
"Sadly no, I don't. But the walls do. Why don't you ask them?"  
  
Duo glanced to the pulsating walls and just imagined placing his ears to that strange living material. He shuddered. "Uhh… no thanks. I'd rather not."  
  
The little demon giggled softly. "Oh, I suppose I could show you the way, but there would be a small price. Us demons don't work for free, you know."  
  
Duo swallowed. "And the price is?"  
  
"Let me come with you, please! I want to see how you and Heero-sama deal with each other. This is bound to be the most interesting thing to happen in our messed up little home in such a long time! I wouldn't dream of missing it for the world!"  
  
Duo blinked in surprise. Was that all? Strange, but if it weren't for appearances he would have sworn that Quatre was just a cute and innocent little child with a great amount of curiosity. The thought almost made him chuckle as he realized that he'd been jumping to conclusions about the boy just because of how he looked.  
  
"Sure, you can come with. I'm sure Trowa won't mind when he meets you."  
  
Quatre's eyes widened. "Ohh! You're travelling with the merboy? I've always wanted to meet him!"  
  
"Ok, great! So… which way do we go?"  
  
The little demon jumped up and down happily then rushed over to one of the walls. Whispering softly to it he placed his ear up against the wall and listened carefully. After a moment he pulled away and smiled, he pointed down a passageway. "This way."  
  
Bounding along happily he took off down the path, Duo following close behind.  
  
**  
  
Trowa walked down the path alone, moving at a leisurely pace as he studied the walls around him. He sighed happily as he came up to a large pond. Stepping to the water's edge he placed a foot in the water and was about to jump in when he heard a sound behind him. Whirling around he caused some of the water to splash out onto the path.  
  
Heero stood behind him.  
  
Trowa took a quick step back farther into the water and further away from the Goblin King.  
  
"Stop," Heero said in a quiet voice.  
  
Trowa shook his head and readied to jump into the pool and swim away to safety.  
  
"I was in error before."  
  
That line made the merboy freeze and he glanced back at the Goblin King. To his surprise he found the young king looking slightly regretful. Changing his mind he turned completely to face the boy.  
  
"What do you wish to speak with me about?" Trowa asked quietly, still not completely trusting.  
  
"I was angry at the boy, and I took it out on you without thinking. I wish to fix my mistake."  
  
Trowa watched as the boy king moved his hand and a crystal appeared. He tossed the crystal and Trowa caught it, glancing in the clear glass. Before him he saw a beautifully clear pond, filled with others of his kind swimming around happily. His home? He looked up at Heero in question.  
  
"You must understand that I can not just hand the boy back to him, he must still make it through the Labyrinth. Instead I'm giving you this. It will enable him to check on his brother and make sure he is not being mistreated."  
  
Trowa nodded. "I'll be sure to give it to him."  
  
Nodding the goblin king turned and shifted back into his owl form, flying off. Trowa stood silently in the pool for a moment, turning the crystal over in his hands. He didn't completely trust the goblin king but he could see nothing wrong with the crystal. Shrugging to himself he stepped into the pond and dove under, determined to find which pathway would lead him to where he and Duo were supposed to meet up.  
  
End of part 5  
  



	6. Part 6

Part 6   
  
Night had fallen, stretching its long cape across the Goblin King's castle and the labyrinth surrounding it, shrouding everything is a beautiful purple light. As the light completely disappeared smaller creatures made their way out of the cracks in the walls, much akin to fireflies as they danced through the air. The darkness was not given complete reign thanks to these small creatures and one was still able to see the path in front of them as they walked.   
  
Duo paid little attention to the scenery though. Instead he just followed the fire demon quietly, his mind wandering back to his younger brother and trying not to let himself worry. Frowning deeply he quickened his pace and wa soon walking beside Quatre as the fire demon skipped down the path.   
  
"How often does he kidnap kids?"   
  
Quatre's skip died down to a normal walk and he brought a hand to his chin in thought. "That depends on when people request it. But he used to a lot… not so much now. Still, judging by the number of goblins in the palace…" The little fire demon trailed off and shrugged.   
  
Duo raised an eyebrow. "The goblins? Are you saying they were all human children at one time?"   
  
He nodded. "All of them. Not all of them were wished away by family members and others, some were just abandoned or lost… or left alone. Its part of the old law, since time began the Labyrinth has been a place for those who have lost their place in their own world."   
  
Duo stopped walking. "You mean like orphans, or those who run away?"   
  
"Yeah, exactly. The goblin king has always collected them and brought them here."   
  
Duo's eyes traveled over the small demon standing before him and tried to imagine the boy without his pinkish skin and red tinted hair, definitely without his tail and pointed teeth. It was hard to do. "Were you… human once?"   
  
Quatre giggled merrily. "No, I've been a demon all my life, just not… a normal one." The boy turned away from Duo and hugged himself. "Demons aren't supposed to be happy and what you humans would consider cute. I'm a freak among my own people because I'm almost always happy and I don't like hurting other people. I don't like eating other creatures or hurting them just for fun, and I guess I'm supposed to like that stuff." He paused for a moment then turned back around, the smile back on his face. "So I wished to be taken away and I was brought here by Heero."   
  
"But then how come all the human children are goblins?" Duo started walking again, not wanting to waste time, Quatre kept up pace beside him.   
  
"That's one of the problems. In order to live here all creatures go through some small change. Me, I will never grow up. I already told you Heero is a child, I'm a few centuries older then he is and pretty soon he'll look like he could be my father. Other creatures, like Trowa, changed in perhaps a better way. I haven't met the merboy but I hear he has legs and can walk on land."   
  
Duo nodded.   
  
"The majority of merfolk can't do that. I don't know why he left his home and came here but I know that merfolk are not supposed to be able to live out of the water, and yet he is able to walk around like a human and swim like a fish."   
  
"That makes sense."   
  
Quatre paused for a moment and placed his ear to the wall, asking it for further directions, then stepped away with a bright smile. "Around the corner."   
  
The two walked around the corner and found themselves stepping out of the warm pulsating area into another section of the labyrinth. This time thick trees surrounded them, plants in lines to create the illusions of thick walls, while a canopy blocked out the sky. A thin path appeared under their feet, curving its way among the trees and plants. Duo stopped and looked around, scanning the woods for Trowa. He glanced back at the fire demon.   
  
"You can leave your area of the labyrinth and be fine?"   
  
Quatre nodded. "No problem, just can't go swimming, that's all. Where's Trowa supposed to meet you?"   
  
"I'm not sure, we didn't know where your area would come out so he said he'd try to find me. I guess we should try to find a body of water and contact him from there."   
  
Quatre grinned and sniffed the air around them, skipping a little farther down the path. His nose wrinkled and he made a face. "There's water this way, but it smells really bad. Wanna try?"   
  
Duo shrugged. "I guess that path is as good as any, unless the trees talk to you too."   
  
"Nope, they don't."   
  
"Well… it was a nice thought."   
  
Stepping forward Duo started down the path, his hands shoved in his pockets. In his mind he was thinking over what Quatre had said about all those children coming to live in the labyrinth. And if Quatre was correct and Heero only took children who asked to be taken he wasn't that bad. After all, what child didn't feel alone at times? He knew he's felt that way many times in his life. So in a way he couldn't be mad at Heero anymore, especially since he seemed to have good intentions, even if he went about them all the wrong way.   
  
So Duo decided he was still mad at Heero for stealing Solo… but he was starting to understand the stuck-up and stubborn king more. Though he wasn't sure that was exactly a good thing.   
  
Continuing down the path he pushed a large clump of vines out of the way and ducked under them. One slipped out of his grip and fell back in his face. He tried to push them away again but that same vine always seemed to evade his grasp. Growling in frustration he grabbed the vine and yanked it, trying to toss it out of the way.   
  
Above them came a thick hiss and Duo let go of the vine and stumbled backward just in time to avoid a thick furred hand with razor sharp claws as it swiped through the air. Duo's foot caught a root and he fell to the ground, his eyes widening in fear at the figure above them in the trees.   
  
The large dark shape narrowed its midnight blue eyes and pounced down from the branches above, landing softly on the ground and stalking angrily over to them, its tail swaying menacingly behind it. Black fur covered its obviously human body while its hands and feet more resembled paws with razor sharp retractable claws. Glowing eyes narrowed on a furred face surrounded by a mane of long thin black hair with cat ears poking out where a human's would be.   
  
Duo scrambled backward until he bumped into Quatre's legs, the fire demon refusing to move in fear.   
  
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize that was your tail." Duo stuttered out.   
  
The neko-boy didn't seem to accept the apology, he just kept stalking toward them with his eyes narrowed and his claws extended. He circled them slowly, like a large cat sizing up its prey and Duo couldn't help but shiver.   
  
"I said I was sorry." He gulped out.   
  
The neko-boy came to a stop right next to him and hissed angrily. He raised a clawed hand when Duo heard a soft whoosh of air above him. Glancing up he saw that Quatre's hand held a swirling ball of flames.   
  
"Don't touch him," the fire demon murmured softly.   
  
The neko-boy took a few small steps back but still retained his very ticked look. Opening his mouth he hissed angrily, showing off his fangs, his ears laying flat against the sides of his head.   
  
Suddenly the neko-boy pounced forward, hitting Quatre right in the gut. The small fire demon was so surprised that his ball of threatening flames snapped out of sight and he tumbled back to the ground, landing hard against a tree with a painful cry. Without wasting any time the neko-boy turned and pounced at Duo, catching the shoulders of his shirt with his claws.   
  
Duo cried out in surprise and batted away at the neko-boy with one hand as his other searched for a stick on the ground to hit him with, or a rock, or something! He gave up the search quickly though since he had to concentrate on keeping the claws away from his face and body. The neko-boy hissed angrily, swiping at him with the very clear intent of ripping him to shreds and Duo had no idea how to stop him.   
  
Then something cold and wet covered them and the neko gave out a cry of surprise. Quickly he retreated from Duo and cowered near a tree, shivering and shaking violently. Duo sat up and found that he and the neko had been doused with water, very cold water. Glancing around in surprise he found Quatre standing to his feet, rubbing his head, while Trowa stood on the other side of the path, glaring at the shivering neko.   
  
"Trowa!" The neko-boy hissed angrily as he shook the loose water from his fur.   
  
"Serves you right," Trowa countered back in a calm voice. "You should know better then to attack others just because you taunted them with your tail."   
  
The boy's eyes narrowed and he hissed quickly, glaring at Trowa.   
  
Trowa simply moved his hand through the air, beads of water appearing near his hand. Immediately the neko-boy stopped hissing and looked away, the water disappeared. Trowa turned back to Duo and Quatre.   
  
"Sorry I hit you too." He said, reaching his hand down to help Duo stand.   
  
"Hey, no complaints, at least you stopped that crazy cat."   
  
The neko-boy stood up on his hind legs and gave his body one last shake, much like a dog would, sending the last of the loose water into the air and partially ruffling his thin black fur. "Wufei, the name is Wufei."   
  
"I don't care what your name was, you attacked me!" Duo countered. "Serves you right that you got soaked."   
  
"This is my forest, you are not welcome here. None of you are."   
  
Trowa glanced back at the neko-boy. "I am welcome where ever there is water."   
  
Quatre nodded. "And I am welcome where ever I may walk, as are all other creatures who live here."   
  
"You may be, but he is not."   
  
Duo sighed. "Look, I'm just passing through and I don't have time to waste. I have to get to the castle at the center of the labyrinth."   
  
"I don't care." Wufei spat back.   
  
Trowa just shook his head. "Lets go, just ignore him, he won't do anything while I'm here. He doesn't like getting wet at all."   
  
The three nodded and started down the path, completely ignoring the outraged neko-boy as he just stood there staring in disbelief. How dare they walk through his territory and ignore him! How dare they!   
  
Growling angrily he jumped back up in the trees and followed them, jumping from branch to branch as they made their way along on the ground. This went far beyond his orders from Heero-sama to not let them pass, this hurt his pride! So he decided to follow them and regain his pride, but he would have to be patient for the right time.   
  
Wufei hated being patient.   
  
**   
  
The three came to a stop near a rather large lake as Duo called for a rest. He needed a break from all the walking, not to mention that there were these really small and annoying rocks that had somehow appeared in his shoes. Dropping to the ground he pulled off his shoes and dumped the rocks out. Quatre took a place sitting next to him while Trowa leaned against a close tree trunk.   
  
"Quatre, this is Trowa, Trowa, Quatre." He grinned.   
  
The fire demon smiled sweetly at the merboy, who nodded back. "I'd offer a hand to shake in greeting," Quatre said. "But I have a feeling it might hurt you."   
  
Trowa nodded. "I don't do well with fire. But I thank you for the thought."   
  
Duo slipped his shoes back on and leaned back, glancing up into the trees. Not to his surprise he found Wufei perched above them cleaning his arm in very cat-like movements, which made sense considering he seemed to be part cat.   
  
"And you? You planning on coming with us to the castle at the center of the labyrinth?"   
  
Wufei stopped cleaning his paw and frowned. "I am not following you," he growled.   
  
Duo smirked. "Yeah, sure you aren't." Standing up he stretched his legs and yawned. Running a hand through his bangs he walked to the water's edge, his eyes scanning to see where they could cross. He took a step closer to see the depth of the water and there was a rustle above.   
  
Duo frowned and glanced back at him. "What?"   
  
"Don't touch the water, or you won't make it to the castle."   
  
Trowa and Quatre stepped up beside Duo and Trowa knelt down to examine the water. Taking a branch from near the shore he dipped it in, only to see the water fizzle and the stick dissolve almost instantly. Duo took a step back in surprise.   
  
"Acid," Trowa murmured softly. "Which would explain why I've never used this body of water to travel before."   
  
"We still need to cross it to get to the castle, there's no other paths. So how…" Duo's voice trailed off as he scanned the shoreline. His eyes stopped on a path of upraised rocks creating a kind of natural bridge to the other side. Quatre followed his gaze and nodded, smiling.   
  
"I'll go first! I'm the lightest." Practically skipping over to the path and hopping up on the first stone. His tail waved through the air behind him as he stood on the stone, testing it with his own weight. Smirking he jumped up and landed back on the rock, satisfied to find that nothing changed.   
  
"Don't do that!" Duo cried out in surprise. "Do you have a death wish?!"   
  
Quatre giggled. "It's safe, don't worry." With those words he jumped to the next stone and continued until he was all the way across, landing with a giggle of happiness and spinning around to face the rest of them. "See?"   
  
Duo shrugged. "Go ahead Trowa."   
  
Trowa followed Quatre next, moving more cautiously from rock to rock. His scaled feet scraped lightly against the rocks and he eyed the water with a small amount of fear but made it safely across.   
  
Duo waited until he was safely on the other side with Quatre then turned and looked at Wufei who was still perched in the trees, cleaning his other paw.   
  
"You coming?"   
  
"No." Came his short and direct answer.   
  
"Suit yourself." And Duo stepped up onto the first rock. He was doing fine, crossing the water but when he reached the middle rock he misjudged his jump and his shoe hit the curved edge of the stone. Duo gave a cry of surprise as he slipped.   
  
End of part 6 


	7. Part 7

Part 7   
  
Duo cried out, his arms flailing for anything to grab as he lost his balance. Quatre and Trowa jumped on the other side of the shore but couldn't do anything in time; there was no way they could catch him! Duo watched in a strange type of slow motion as the world around him flew and he stumbled down toward the boiling acid. He closed his eyes and held his breath, waiting for the splash, but it never came.   
  
Instead he felt some thing yank his arm, harshly. Duo yelped as he was jerked back up, his feet settling back on the rock. He opened his eyes quickly and found Wufei holding onto his arm, his face set in a worried glare. The neko-boy was hanging from his toes and tail from the branch above as both hands were clamped around Duo's arm. Duo flashed him a grateful little smile and regained his balance on the rock; meanwhile Quatre bound across the rocks to where he was.   
  
"Are you ok?"   
  
Duo nodded wordlessly and quickly followed Quatre to the other side of the shore, dropping to the ground and taking a deep breath. Wufei pulled himself back onto the branches and sauntered across them, dropping to the ground by the trio. Glancing at them for a moment with an annoyed look he began to clean his tail with his tongue.   
  
"You ok?" The little fire demon repeated.   
  
Duo nodded. "Yep, I've had my heart attack for the night." He turned toward Wufei. "Thanks a lot, you really saved my life there."   
  
Wufei stopped cleaning his tail and shrugged. "Fine, just don't tell anyone." He murmured.   
  
"Fair enough." Duo closed his eyes and sighed.   
  
Trowa frowned at him. "It was a good thing he caught you." The merboy's face lit up for a second and he held out the strange crystal for Duo to see.   
  
Duo's eyes opened and he perked up, sitting up straight and looking up at the boy. "What's that?"   
  
"I ran into Heero-sama while you were in the other section of the maze. He said to give you this."   
  
Duo frowned and stood up to see it, but didn't touch it.   
  
"What is it?" Quatre asked, moving closer. His small pointed tail swaying in the air.   
  
"A crystal. He said he wanted to apologize for threatening us and taking his anger out on me. He said he couldn't give you back your brother but that this would allow you to see he wasn't being harmed."   
  
Duo reached for the crystal timidly, jerking his hand back just before he touched it. He couldn't decide, he knew he didn't trust Heero but at the same time… He wrapped his fingers around the cold crystal and lifted it into his own hand. Turning it over in his hands he gazed into the clear center.   
  
The crystal was strange, and just as Duo began to gaze into it a mist grew in the center. Duo watched in mute amazement as the mist swirled around in the crystal and created forms… shapes. He blinked as the image of Solo appeared, of his brother sitting in a large and airy room surrounded by little goblins. They were engaged in some strange sort of game and Solo was taking his turn, tossing a few triangular shaped dice onto the floor. Duo's eyes widened as the boy paused and looked up, almost as if he knew he was being watched.   
  
"Solo?"   
  
The red haired boy looked around the room for a minute then shrugged and went back to the game, the picture fading away.   
  
"Did you see him?" Quatre asked as Duo lowered the crystal.   
  
Duo smiled. "Yeah, he's ok. We should keep moving. I still don't completely trust Heero, and I want my brother back."   
  
The group got to their feet, brushing themselves off and started down the path, but Duo paused and glanced back at Wufei.   
  
"You're welcome to come along if you want. The more the merrier."   
  
The cat-boy just snorted and shook his head, going back to cleaning his fur. But, not to their surprise, he jumped into the trees above their heads a minute later and proceeded to follow them at a distance.   
  
**   
  
As the group walked on Duo held the crystal clutched in his hand, content to feel the cool material against his skin. It struck him as strange that Heero would give him such a talisman without much notice. He was really starting to doubt his first impressions of the moody Goblin King. At first the boy had just seemed to be a spoiled brat who couldn't mind his own business, but now that he knew a small amount about the history of this labyrinth he couldn't help but rethink everything.   
  
From what the others had told him the labyrinth was a place for people to go when they felt they no longer belonged in their normal world. Quatre, Trowa and probably even Wufei had felt alone at one time and they'd been given a place to live in the labyrinth, a place where they wouldn't have to worry about not fitting in. Duo paused in his thoughts and leaned back against a tree, holding the crystal in his hand.   
  
Had he made Solo feel the same way? He knew he felt that way at times, but not enough to actually ever leave for real. So did the others ever regret that they had come here?   
  
The two stopped in front of him and Quatre glanced back over his shoulder.   
  
"Duo?"   
  
Duo shrugged and turned the crystal over in his hands. "Just thinking."   
  
The little fire demon twirled around on his feet so he was completely facing Duo. "About what?" He asked with a small smile.   
  
"Stuff I guess, do you guys ever miss your homes?"   
  
Quatre's smile wilted just slightly. "I guess…"   
  
"Doesn't everyone?" Trowa said softly.   
  
Duo nodded. "Yeah, we all miss our homes."   
  
Quatre frowned and fidgeted. "Even if you want to forget about it all, you still remember and miss it."   
  
Duo's eyes settled on the crystal. "Forget?" He whispered softly.   
  
Above them in the trees they heard a soft mew as Wufei jumped down. He eyed the crystal warily, as they all did; it had begun to glow.   
  
Duo's eyes widened. "What's going on?"   
  
"Duo, drop the crystal!" Trowa said quickly, racing toward the human boy. Duo turned his hand to drop the crystal but it stayed attached to his hand, glowing brighter with every second. Duo shook his hand in a panic to try and make the crystal let go.   
  
"What's going on!?" Duo froze and shivered as he realized that the world around him was becoming fuzzy around the edges. Quatre moved forward to grab on to him but his hands flowed right through Duo as if he were a ghost. Duo swallowed hard as the world around him grew cold and faded to darkness. "Help…"   
  
"Duo!" Trowa jumped at the crystal, trying to catch it in his scaled hands as it floated up into the sky, but he missed and it flew up into the sky, disappearing in the direction of the castle. Trowa's shoulders slumped and he cursed softly.   
  
Wufei stood up on his back legs and walked over to them. "It went toward the castle," he said softly.   
  
Quatre nodded mutely, watching the merboy turn and slam his fist into a nearby tree, closing his eyes in frustration.   
  
"I should have known," Trowa hissed as he continued to pound his fist into the tree trunk. "I should have known I couldn't trust Heero-sama."   
  
"Trowa…"   
  
"It's my fault."   
  
Quatre frowned and tried again to get Trowa's attention, but the merboy was too caught up in blaming himself for what had just happened. The small fire demon sighed loudly and pursed his lips. Walking with a determined step he moved to stand right in front of Trowa and slapped him hard across the face.   
  
Both boys hissed in pain from the contact, their opposing elements reacting to harm the other. Trowa blinked in shock and tentatively touched his burned cheek while Quatre cradled his hand.   
  
"Get a hold of yourself," the fire demon hissed.   
  
Trowa took a deep breath and started to protest but decided against it at the last moment.   
  
"It doesn't matter whose fault it is. The point is Duo disappeared and we have to find him now. We'll worry about who is responsible when we get him back."   
  
It took a moment of thought but finally the merboy nodded. Sighing he turned and glanced at Wufei. "Your kind are supposed to be good at tracking…"   
  
The neko-boy nodded slowly. "This way, if you want me to keep track of it we have to hurry."   
  
And the three rushed off down the path.   
  
**   
  
The large marble painted doors before him slid open to reveal a bright and colorful world. Sound danced all around, circling and twirling around those moving on the dance floor. Feathers and fabric whispered against each other as the people danced, gliding over the floor like ethereal spirits, their faces lit with smiles of delight and glee beneath the ornate masks. No one seemed to notice Duo at first, as he stood in the doorway watching the scene before him. Yet, one by one, the dancing came to a stop and all eyes set on the boy.   
  
Duo stood in the doorway, wearing clothes that were foreign, and yet fit him so well. A richly embroidered tunic wrapped around his body, stopped just short of mid-thigh, the black fabric glistening in the surreal light. Black and purple patchwork leggings covered his legs, tucked into knee high black boot polished to a perfect shine. His long chestnut colored hair hung loosely around his head, cascading down around his body in light waves and brushed to a shine. He stared back at the others with wide violet eyes, trying to regain his mental footing.   
  
Where was he? How had he gotten here? And perhaps more importantly what had happened to his real clothes? Their stares were flattering but very unnerving at the same time and all he wanted to do was back into the shadows, hiding from sight. He could feel them all watching him, the tension in the room rising. He felt as if they were mentally undressing him, though actually he knew they probably were. That thought brought a small shiver down his back.   
  
Before him there was a soft murmured word and the crowd took light steps back, the sea of people parting away. They moved to reveal a boy much the same age as Duo lounging on a magnificent blood red throne made of twisted vines and roots. The boy's eyes widened slightly as he caught sight of Duo and he eased out of his chair, moving as smoothly as a summer's breeze.   
  
This strange boy, who Duo could have sworn he recognized from some unknown memory, was breathtaking. He wore an old-fashioned poet's shirt, made of a light silvery fabric that was practically see-through. Midnight blue tailored pants hugged his long legs, ending in short boots of soft white leather. A small chain of silver hung from one ear while icy blue eyes watched Duo, the face surrounded by short and messy brown hair. The boy moved toward Duo, licking his lips lightly as the distance between them disappeared.   
  
Duo found he was holding his breath, entranced by the strange boy before him. He drew in a shuttering breath as the boy moved his hand up, caressing the side of Duo's cheek.   
  
"Magnificent," the boy breathed.   
  
Duo blushed lightly and tried to take a step back to calm himself down but the next thing he knew the strange boy was right up against him, brushing his soft lips across Duo's neck. Duo shuddered at the touch and leaned his head back, completely forgetting his confusion at the situation. Instead he drew in a shaky breath as the boy lightly kissed him.   
  
"Amazing," the boy breathed against his neck.   
  
Duo blinked and suddenly the thick atmosphere was gone. He found himself lying across a bed of cool silk, the room lit by fireflies dancing around the ceiling. He turned his head and found the spellbinding boy leaning over him, a hungry look in his eyes.   
  
"Do you know how beautiful you are?" the boy whispered. Once again he reached forward and caressed Duo's cheek, but this time his hand didn't stop, it slid down Duo's neck and began to undo the ties on his tunic.   
  
"What's going on?" Duo whispered, blinking rapidly as his sight grew hazy with desire. What had come over him? He was enraptured with the boy above him and couldn't understand it at all.   
  
"Shh, don't ask questions. Just enjoy." The boy knelt his head down and gently licked a hot line down Duo's chest. Duo moaned softly as the tunic was completely opened and pushed back, strangely trapping his arms against the bed, though he didn't really care.   
  
Teeth nibbled lightly at his skin, stopping to tease his nipples as he whimpered, wiggling in the strange boy's grasp. What was happening? He tried to keep his mind clear, to remember how he'd gotten to this room and on to this bed but everything was disappearing rapidly. All he could think about was the delicious sensations dancing across his body.   
  
Duo gasped as the boy breathed through the leggings, hot air surrounding his aching groin. He heard the boy chuckle softly and then he felt the leggings being pulled away.   
  
Duo shook his head, trying to clear it as the hands danced over his skin. No, this wasn't right, he wasn't supposed to be here. This wasn't right! He struggled against the pleasure, trying to pull his arms out from where they were trapped against the bed under his tunic.   
  
"Stop…" he choked out quietly.   
  
"You're not enjoying yourself?" The boy whispered, licking a wet line up Duo's cock. Duo moaned but managed to keep a straight mind, just barely.   
  
"This isn't right…"   
  
"Yes it is."   
  
"No!" Duo bolted up in the bed and knocked the boy backward, causing him to shake his head in surprise. Both boys stared at each other and Duo took a large breath.   
  
"Tell me what's wrong," the boy whispered quietly. "Were you in pain?"   
  
"No, that wasn't it." Duo pulled the tunic tightly around his shoulders and shivered. "There's something… something I'm supposed to remember."   
  
The boy's face fell and he turned away, causing guilt to fill Duo. "You don't like men," the boy murmured softly.   
  
Duo blinked in surprise. "No, that isn't it. I just… I…" He frowned and his eyes flew around the room, trying to find something, anything to stir his memory. "Something I have to remember…"   
  
"Mmm, don't worry about it." The boy leaned in toward Duo. "We're alone now, that's all that matters." The boy leaned in and brushed his lips against Duo's.   
  
Duo's eyes slid shut as the boy's tongue danced over his lips. His mind fuzzed out again as he enjoyed the sweet taste. Yes, they were alone and there wasn't anything else that mattered at the moment. Nothing else. Nothing else except…   
  
Except…   
  
Duo's eyes snapped open and he shoved the boy away, scrambling backwards. His mind felt like it was on fire, but the memories flooded in at an alarming speed. Solo! He was supposed to remember Solo!   
  
A clock… he needed a clock…   
  
His violet eyes settled on the boy before him and he froze, suddenly realizing who he was alone with. And then it all clicked into place. The boy crouched before him in the ruffled shirt which hung half open was Heero, the Goblin King and ruler of this labyrinth. Some how he'd been transported to this place and now this? His eyes narrowed.   
  
"Where's my brother?"   
  
Heero's eyes narrowed lightly, but not in an angry way. It was more of that they lost their innocent look only to reveal his truer nature. Heero straightened himself and cocked his head as he gazed at Duo. "Tell me you weren't actually enjoying yourself."   
  
"That's not what I asked. Where is my brother?"   
  
"Safe, I wouldn't hurt him. You need not be concerned." Heero reached out for Duo but Duo slapped his hand away harshly and jumped off the bed, standing to his feet and backing away.   
  
"Stop fucking playing games! I want my brother back!"   
  
The Goblin King slid off the bed and stalked toward Duo, much the way a tiger would stalk its prey. Duo backed away from the young king until his back hit a mirrored wall. Freezing he just watched as the young boy approached him, a sad look crossing his face.   
  
"Why must you humans always be like this? You used to have no problem letting go of the real world when you were younger, why must you lose this talent as you age?"   
  
"Sometimes reality is more important then fantasy," Duo spat out.   
  
Something clicked and Heero flew into a rage, his eyes practically glowing with anger. "No! No!" Turning away from Duo the Goblin King hugged himself, his body shifting quickly to that of a large white owl. But this transformation wasn't smooth like the others, this transformation looked painful. Duo watched in amazement as the snowy owl screeched and flapped around the room, its wings angrily beating the air.   
  
That was when the entire fantasy shattered. Duo let out a cry as the world around him shattered like glass, falling away in pieces to reveal only darkness. Suddenly he was falling and all he could hear was the angry flapping of Heero's wings, and then there was nothing.   
  
End of part 7 


	8. Part 8

Part 8  
  
Heero's eyes snapped open and the world around him seemed to swirl. Without showing his discomfort he raised a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes, waiting for the world to stop spinning. To be thrown out of his own illusion so quickly was disorienting and it took him a moment to regain his composer enough to trust himself. After a long moment and a couple deep breaths he opened his eyes again and glanced around the room.  
  
All was quiet around him, the majority of the goblins having fallen into a light sleep in small clumps and piles. Heero's well trained eyes easily picked out Solo from the crowd, his body curled into a small yet comfortable ball, with goblins curled up next to him like children to a mother for warmth. The human boy was definitely far on his way with the transformation. Heero stood up and stalked over to the boy, his boots clicking lightly on the stone floor. For a long moment he stood over the boy, glaring down at the peacefully sleeping form, then he snorted and turned away, walking to the window.  
  
Seating himself on the windowsill he gazed out over the intricate network of walls. He tapped a gloved hand impatiently on the sill, glaring at the small moving forms below. "What makes him so important?" The Goblin King tossed a short look back at the boy then back out the window. "I watched him. All he ever did was patronize you, tease you about who you were. So why are you going to such great lengths to save him?"  
  
A shiver moved through his body and the Goblin King tentatively hugged his own knees, his face taking on a more wistful expression. Blue eyes that seemed to lose their iciness watched the twists and turns below. Where was Duo now that the illusion had shattered? Where had the boy landed? And would he make it to the castle in the small amount of time he had left?  
  
Heero leaned back against the edge of the windowsill and closed his eyes.   
  
What was wrong with him?  
  
For some strange reason he didn't want to play this game anymore.  
  
What had that human done to him?  
  
**  
  
Everything ached around him. He felt as if he was laying in a bed of needles and he couldn't move. The needles just kept stabbing into his skin and he couldn't brush them off or move away, just lie there as they stabbed him. He couldn't even open his mouth to cry out. His mind would have panicked if it hadn't been for the pain.  
  
Amazingly, through all the aches and pain he felt something furry brush against his cheek. That sensation was followed by warmth touching both his shoulders and shaking him, but that didn't scare away the needles. He wanted to open his mouth. He wanted to urge them to keep trying, anything to distract him from the pain-  
  
Ice cold covered his entire body, washing all the needles away and causing him to yelp in surprise. His body broke out of the strange spell and he rolled away, covering his face with his arms, attempting to shield. He rolled into a small ball and shivered, water dripping from his body as he spat it out of his mouth. That's when he realized someone was saying his name.  
  
"Duo? Duo? Can you hear us?"  
  
Duo sputtered a bit more and blinked his eyes open, brushing away the water from his eyes with the back of his hands. He hissed as pain laced through his body, it felt worse then the needles. Duo could only groan in response and he still didn't recognize the voice.  
  
"Where did those come from?" the voices continued.  
  
"I think I can fix them."   
  
Duo felt something gently take one of his hands, a warm and fur covered touch. He blinked his eyes more, willing them to see again but he couldn't make out the fuzzy shapes. What was going on? Why couldn't he see anything?  
  
Then it was strange, he felt something wet and textured move over his hand, rubbing against the torn skin. He tried to jerk his hand back but the grip was too tight. Instead he whimpered quietly as the textured thing worked its way all over his hand, moving over each cut. After each touch the wound began to tingle lightly, a strange tickling sensation moving over his skin. And it wasn't long before the strange texture moved to other parts of his body, sliding slowly up his face.  
  
His sight started to fade back into focus, treating him to a semi-lit world with different shades of green overhead. He blinked rapidly until he could make it out… leaves? Duo coughed and flailed out his arms, knocking away the strange thing which was now moving down his neck. He turned his head and his eyes widened as he saw the three kneeling beside him. Quatre and Trowa were sitting next to each other while Wufei was practically in Duo's lap, licking the cuts which had somehow appeared all over his body. Gently he pushed Wufei away and winced as he saw the condition of his clothes. They were torn everywhere.  
  
"Duo?" Quatre whispered quietly.  
  
"Wh-what happened?" His voice came out scratchy and it was painful to speak.   
  
Trowa turned his face away, his long bangs covering his face so Duo couldn't see his eyes. His body seemed to slump in guilt and his voice came out as just barley a whisper.  
  
"You were sucked into Heero-sama's gem-"  
  
The fire demon's eyes narrowed. "Trowa, if you dare say its your fault I swear I'll slap you again, no matter how much it hurts!"  
  
The merboy shut his mouth and stiffened.  
  
Duo blinked in confusion and forced himself to sit up, his body crying out in protest. "I remember I think… one minute I was standing with you guys and the next thing I knew I was in this strange ball room filled with people. And Heero he…" Duo paused as his cheeks went warm. His mind supplied a perfect vision of the large bed and the drop dead sexy goblin king. He shook his head and banished the vision, swallowing hard.  
  
"How did you get out?" Wufei asked, tilting his head up at Duo in kitten-like curiosity.  
  
"I said something and he snapped… I said… I said that reality was more important then fantasy." Duo's voice trailed off quietly as the others stared at him. "He cried out in pain and then turned into an owl, but it looked like it hurt. Like it really really hurt."  
  
Quatre glanced around for a moment then met Duo's eyes, pursing his lips. "Umm, Duo, there is something you should know about him."  
  
All three pairs of eyes settled on the little fire demon. He ran a hand through his blond curls and sighed. "Heero's like the rest of us, an orphan of sorts. We were all outcasts in our world and so was he, so he came here like the rest of us. But… even here he's an outcast. When he arrived in this world he didn't change. He hasn't aged a single day, instead he's always retained the appearance that he despised.  
  
"At first all of us that were here thought he was unique, but in a good way. We listened to everything he said and tried to make him feel at home. We took care of him, tried to make him feel welcome, but every day he grew more and more distant. He hated being different and he just grew more cold and distant."  
  
The fire demon's face fell. "I'm not sure how it all happened but he ended up in that castle. He's always collecting more children who feel like they don't belong. I guess he's trying to find someone else like him, someone else who won't change… someone who will make it so he's not the only one."  
  
Quatre's face fell and he shrugged, looking young and helpless. Duo responded with a frown.   
  
"That makes sense," he said softly. "Do you know why he didn't change?"  
  
Quatre shook his head. "We couldn't explain it."  
  
Duo closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, surprised to find it had come completely unraveled. Sighing softly he struggled to his feet, using the tree trunk as an anchor for his balance. The other two stood up after him, Wufei stayed crouched on the ground.  
  
"What are you doing?" Trowa asked, offering a hand to Duo to help him steady.  
  
Duo shook his head and frowned. "As much as I may feel sorry for him Solo comes first. I can't leave me brother here, I won't leave my brother here. Solo is my first priority…" His shoulders sagged. "No matter how much I may want to try and help Heero."  
  
Trowa nodded.  
  
"Can you walk all right?" Wufei asked, crawling up next to Duo's feet.  
  
"I think so, I'm still a little light headed from falling out of that… vision. But I'll get used to walking again."  
  
The neko-boy lifted his head and rested it under Duo's hand, smiling up at him. "I'll help."  
  
Duo nodded and glanced to Trowa and Quatre. "Thanks Quatre, I think I kind of understand now." He smiled. "So, which way is the castle?"  
  
The three set off, Trowa taking the lead with Quatre a step behind, constantly glancing over his shoulder to make sure Duo was ok. Duo, on the other hand, walked at a fairly normal pace, only occasionally using Wufei as a support if his balance faltered. It wasn't long before he completely recovered and didn't need to keep his hand hovering over Wufei's head. In response the neko-boy mewed quietly and bound up into the trees, following them the rest of the way by jumping from branch to branch overhead.  
  
Despite the tattered condition of his clothes and the small cuts which still covered his body Duo felt little pain. What little pain he felt was ignored in favor of his goal. No matter what he had to get Solo back. He felt sorry for the Goblin King but that didn't excuse him stealing children from their homes just because at one point in their lives they felt like they didn't belong. He wouldn't let Solo meet the same fate as the other children, he'd bring Solo home no matter what it took.  
  
The grassy path before them grew wider, the trees becoming thinner and thinner. Eventually Wufei was forced to jumped back to the ground and prowl silently behind the small group, eyeing their surroundings cautiously. The path before them made a sharp curve and they suddenly found themselves at a tall sandstone brick wall.   
  
Duo's eyes widened as he looked up above the wall.   
  
"Are we…?"  
  
A smile crossed Trowa's face and soon Quatre echoed the expression. "Yes, we've reached the caste at the center of the Labyrinth."  
  
**  
  
"Heero-sama! Heero-sama! Wake up!"  
  
Heero stirred from his place on the windowsill and turned his head, glaring angrily at the goblin who raced into the room, tripping over his snoozing brothers and sisters.  
  
"Yell at me one more time and I'll throw you out the window," Heero hissed angrily. He hated being jarred out of sleep.  
  
The goblin froze and immediately dropped into a bow, his eyes wide with fear. "I apologize my lord, but the boy… he's reached the walls! The human boy and the three traitors, they are here!"  
  
Heero jumped up from his seat in a rage, his eyes burning. "Stop them!" Walking around the room he angrily kicked the goblins until they woke up. "Stop them! Don't let them in!"  
  
The goblins all jumped to their feet and raced out of the room, all running to the areas below to follow their orders. Moments later only two were left in the room, Heero and a small goblin with long red hair pulled back in a messy braid. The goblin-boy sat up and looked around in confusion, his eyes holding a blank look.  
  
"What's going on?"  
  
Heero just snarled at the boy. "Be quiet and follow me." Turning he waved his hand at a stone wall, the brick twisting and turning, moving out of the way to create a door and a stairway beyond.  
  
The red haired goblin shrugged and stood to his feet, scurrying after Heero up the stairs. He didn't know what was going on but he didn't know what else to do. So he just followed quietly, hoping all would eventually be explained.  
  
End of part 8 


	9. Part 9

Part 9  
  
The entrance to the castle of the so-called Goblin King was right out of a fantasy novel, much like everything else in this strange world. High stone walls led to only one entrance, which was sided with tall slotted towers and a spiked gate, which was closed. Duo and his party walked up to the gate and frowned, he placed his hands on the metal gate, testing it around the spikes.  
  
"I have a feeling he knows we're here," Duo murmured. Beyond the thick iron gate he could hear sounds of movements but could see very little. Still, the sounds he heard weren't inviting, especially not when he'd read so many books. He knew what kind of defenses many castles employed to keep out intruders. From this point on he knew they could expect anything from boiling oil to guards with spiked clubs. The problem was that everything in this land was changed to its own uniqueness so in reality he could only guess at what they were running into.  
  
Duo turned back to the others. "Ok, any ideas on how to get in? The gate's pretty firmly shut."  
  
Wufei sauntered up to the stone wall and eyed it curiously. Narrowing his eyes he followed the gate up to where it disappeared between the stone walls. "Shut and locked, it would take considerable work for them to open this thing, which means they really want to keep us out."  
  
Quatre just smirked. "It is metal right?" Snapping a long nailed finger the group watched as a small flame appeared in his hand, dancing a light blue and white. "Back away."  
  
The group backed away from the gate as the fire demon advanced toward it. Upon reaching the gate he twirled his hand and pointed to the gate, closing his eyes in concentration. Slowly the metal began to smoke, a small curl of discolored air appearing. Little by little a red hue covered the metal until it was glowing brightly. Duo and the others shielded their eyes as the small line of fire from Quatre's hand grew brighter, so bright it hurt their eyes.   
  
Still, even with their eyes turned away they could hear the hissing of the metal as it began to melt away. Strange metallic plinks were heard as the molten metal dripped onto the pieces below, hissing wildly. Then there was a thick clank, the sound of metal hitting the ground. Duo chanced looking back at Quatre's handy work and grinned.  
  
A large hole was now cut in the middle of the gate, just large enough for them to step through one at a time. Quatre offered a small smile and then dropped back against the wall taking deep breaths. Duo raced over to him.  
  
"You all right?"  
  
The fire demon nodded, wiping away the small sweat droplets from his pink skin. "Yeah, just a little winded. It's hard work keeping up a flame that hot, even for me. Just give me a second to rest and I'll follow you right behind."  
  
Duo nodded and glanced to the melted gate. Motion to the others he stepped through, followed by Trowa and Wufei. True to his word Quatre followed a second later.  
  
The castle courtyard spread out before them in a magnificent display of shades and hues. Duo stopped in his stride and just stared as his eyes crossed over everything. Gardens. Gardens filled with every flower imaginable, planted and growing so close together they created a thick patterned carpet all the way to the main door. Everywhere he looked all he could see was the flowers, leaves and vines, no path in sight. Behind him Wufei gave a low hiss from the back of his throat. Duo turned to see the neko-boy on all fours, his back arched and his eyes narrowed dangerously.  
  
"There's no one here…" Trowa wondered quietly out loud. "No people, no goblins, just… plants."  
  
"I don't like this," Quatre murmured. Worriedly he moved his hand, but his powers only responded with a weak spark. He threw a helpless look at Duo, telling him wordlessly that he'd be able to help, just not with any fire any time soon. Melting that gate had taken more out of him then he thought.  
  
"Well, no sense standing here admiring it. I don't have much time left." Duo took a step toward the carpet of flowers, walking right up to where the edge began. Eyeing the plants warily he moved his foot into them. There he stood, for a good minute, one foot in the flowers and one foot waiting on the inside. He held his breath as he waited for something to happen, but nothing did. After a while he sighed with relief and stepped completely into the flowers, beckoning for the others to follow.  
  
The group walked in silence, their eyes ever open, watching everything. They knew the bed of flowers couldn't be trusted and the tension that grew between them as they walked was nearly solid by the time they reached the main gate. In fact when Wufei jumped out of the flowers and onto the normal ground again by the door, his small meow of happiness made them all gasp in surprise. A second later the group stepped out on to the normal ground and laughed.   
  
"I thought for sure some big Venus fly trap was going to spring up and eat us," Duo admitted, rubbing his head and peering back over the flowers.  
  
Trowa nodded. "I do feel guilty for walking over them though, we certainly made a large pat-" His voice dropped off as he looked back and saw no evidence of their footsteps though the carpet of color. He frowned deeply. "Something's not right."  
  
"Like it or not let's keep going, before something does happen." Wufei stood up and reached for the handles on the large bolted wooden doors, wrapping his hand around…   
  
Air?  
  
All four watched as the door snapped out of existence, leaving in its place only a solid brick wall. Wufei hissed angrily and hit his fist against the wall, receiving no response. At the same moment sound came from behind them, sounds of movement.   
  
Duo and Wufei gave twin cries as vines shot forward, wrapping tightly around their bodies. Without even the chance to blink they were both pulled back into the carpet of plants and disappeared beneath the many color petals and leaves.  
  
"Duo?!" Quatre whirled around and eyed the flowerbed, panic covering his expression. "Where'd they go?"  
  
The merboy shook his head worriedly and jumped forward, shoving Quatre against the wall as another set of vines shot for them. Both boys cried out at the contact but thanks to Trowa's movement the vines missed.  
  
Trowa bit his lip against the pain and shook his hands, trying to cool them off. "Did you see where it pulled them in?"  
  
Quatre shook his head. "No, it happened to fast. We can't even see where they went, how are we going to find them without getting caught ourselves?"  
  
"Like this," Trowa pressed the palms of his hands tightly together then brought them back apart, a strong spray of water shooting from his hands into the flowers. All around them the air filled with high pitched screeches as the water pressure uprooted the plants and blew them to the side.  
  
Water flowed from Trowa's hands, seemingly endless as he walked forward, washing the plants away, despite his earlier comment of guilt. Behind him the blond fire demon clung tightly to the stone wall, eyeing the water with fear, it was getting far too close to him for his own comfort. It wasn't long before he was forced to latch onto the wall and actually attempt to climb it, anything to get his feet off the now flooded ground. Holding on for dear life he shrunk against the wall, praying that he would just be able to hold on until Trowa found them.  
  
"Trowa! Stop!"  
  
"You're going to drown us you fool!"  
  
Trowa closed his hands and the water stopped, revealing one wet human and a very unhappy looking soaked neko-boy. Trowa rushed over to them as they stood up and shook off the remnants of the plants which still clinging to their bodies. As Trowa got closer Wufei took a swipe at his chest, missing by a hair, glaring angrily.  
  
"I just saved you and you threaten to slice me up?" Trowa remarked with a barley hidden half smile.  
  
The neko-boy just hissed angrily and shook his body, sending the fur and water flying. Duo gave a cry and blocked his face, however Wufei still managed to soak him.  
  
"Thanks a lot," he murmured.  
  
"Umm… can I have some help over here? I think I found a door."  
  
All three turned to see Quatre still holding onto the wall, but he nodded to a dark opening which had just appeared above him, just slightly out of reach. In response to his call Wufei scurried over the wet ground and up the wall, easily scaling it. Reaching down he helped Quatre into the opening and then waiting until the others also reached him.  
  
The next room they entered wasn't nearly as inviting as the other obstacles, but at the same time it was a little more welcome. Instead of some strange booby trap they found the opening they walked through closed immediately upon their entry, and they were left with one pathway to follow, though that wasn't the worst of it. That pathway, in particular, soon opened to a room full of goblins, armed to the teeth. Surprisingly thought, none of the goblins were watching the door, they were just muttering in clumps and not caring about the as yet unseen intruders.  
  
The four froze and their eyes widened.   
  
"No way we're getting past all of them!" Duo whispered to the others.  
  
"You've got bigger problems." Trowa pointed out. Duo followed his hand to a clock hanging on the wall. A clock with thirteen hours on it… and only a few minutes left! Duo's jaw dropped.  
  
"No way!"  
  
Wufei just looked at him and grinned quietly. "Go, just run, we'll cover you as best we can."  
  
Duo shook his head. "I'm not leaving you three to fight them, there's too many."  
  
Wufei frowned. "You don't have time to object. Just trust us, but isn't he more important?"  
  
"But…"  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes and shoved Duo forward, right at the goblins. "Go!"  
  
And then Duo was running.  
  
Racing forward, right into the surprised group he shielded his face and body with his arms, but barely paid attention to the short armored bodies around him. He just ran, his eyes set on the stairway just beyond. All around him he could hear them calling out, metal clanging together and feet moving, but he ignored it all. Only a few minutes left… he couldn't lose!  
  
He reached the stairs with only a few scratches and took only a moment to glance back. Trowa met his eyes and smiled back, urging him on and then Duo turned and ran up the stairs. He felt guilty about leaving them there but they were right, Solo was more important. He had to trust that his new friends could handle themselves. They would take care of the goblins, and it was his job to take care of Heero, the Goblins' King.  
  
**  
  
The room was dark, the thick air crowding around him tightly until he could barely breathe. Duo took a deep breath and stepped forward into the darkness, summoning his courage. How was he supposed to face someone he couldn't see?  
  
All around him the silence was deafening, roaring agaisnt his ears with nothingness, but still he moved forward with careful steps. No, he wouldn't be stopped and he wouldn't let his fears overcome him. He didn't let himself think about what could possibly be hiding in the darkness, what could be stalking right up behind him, what could be leaning over his shoulder right now-  
  
Duo shook his head and stopped those thoughts too, they weren't helping.  
  
Taking another step forward this time he was forced to stop as the world around him suddenly burst into view. Light flooded his vision and blinding him as he cried out and threw up his arms. His eyes ached from the sudden change and he rubbed them violently before blinking them open cautiously.  
  
No longer was there darkness around him, but instead he stood in a world swirling with icy colored mists. Every shade of blue imaginable flowed around him like so many rivers, a world created of magic with no top nor bottom, just the mist. Turning around slowly he surveyed the strange world, realizing he wasn't standing on anything that he could see, but he could still feel the ground beneath his feet. However he was just surrounded by mist, nothing else.  
  
"Heero!" He cried out angrily, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Show your face you spineless jerk!"  
  
His voice echoed around him, swirling and then being swallowed into the mist with no answer. Well, no answer that would have helped. Instead he heard a quiet sound, a small sobbing. Duo whirled around at the sound and froze.  
  
Kneeling before him was Solo, hugging his knees slowly as his shoulders shook.  
  
"Solo?!" Duo raced to his side and reached out to touch him but the boy slapped his hand away.  
  
Duo blinked in surprise as Solo looked up… no, it couldn't be Solo! The boy before him wasn't his younger half-brother. The boy before him had a greenish-brown tint to his skin, eyes a black icky color. His ears curved up into distinct points while he was almost half Duo's height. It wasn't Solo, it couldn't be, but at the same time…  
  
"It is you… isn't it?" Duo whispered softly.  
  
The red haired goblin just looked at him in confusion. Then he snapped out of existence leaving Duo crouching on the ground, once more alone.  
  
"Heero! HEERO! Do you hear me? Get out here where I can see you! You cheating bastard!"  
  
A laugh echoed around him and Duo watched as the icy mist swirled into a set of cobalt blue eyes, then they blinked and Heero stood before him, smirking quietly.  
  
"You lose," he whispered, his voice gaining an amused tone.  
  
Duo stood to his feet and glared. "What are you talking about? I made it to the castle, in the time you said. I made it through your maze and your traps and I'm here in one piece. I win because I made it through."  
  
Heero shook his head. "I said you had thirteen hours to reach us and retrieve him, in the second you failed."  
  
"You made him disappear! I can't retrieve him when you play dirty tricks like that!"  
  
"That doesn't matter anymore. The challenge is over and you lose." Emphasizing his words Heero moved forward, his hand reaching for Duo's face. Duo tried to move, tried to slap that hand away or back off, or anything, but he couldn't. He found himself frozen in place as the Goblin King moved forward and slid his hand down his face.  
  
"Do you know how amazing you look like this?" Heero whispered in a husky voice. "Your hair down, your clothes torn…"  
  
"Get your hands off me," Duo hissed, discovering that he at least had control of his lips.  
  
However, the Goblin King ignored his words and slid his smooth hands under the remains of Duo's shirt. Smirking at the human boy he leaned forward, their lips meeting in a harsh and hungry kiss.  
  
Duo's eyes narrowed and he took advantage of the situation. Catching Heero's bottom lip between his teeth he bit down, hard. The boy cried out in surprise and jumped back, bringing a tentative finger to his lip and wincing as he touched the freshly bleeding cut. His blue eyes darted back to Duo in confusion, and were those small tears attempting to form at his eyes?  
  
Duo blinked back in surprise. He never pegged Heero as one to react in such a way to pain, but now that he thought about it that was nearly the same reaction he'd gotten when he'd slapped him before. For just a few seconds a mask seemed to fall away, revealing a young boy, a young boy who seem scared and frightened. The same now, Heero stood there, the small line of blood travelling down his chin as his lips trembled. He looked like a lost child.  
  
"I'm sorry," Duo said quietly.  
  
Heero's brows knitted together and he wiped away the blood angrily. "No you're not," he said angrily, his mask seeming to slip back into place.  
  
Duo's lips curved into a sad little smile. "No, I'm not sorry for biting your lip. But I am sorry for you."  
  
Confusion crossed the boy's face again and he shook it away. "What are you talking about?!"  
  
"I heard about you, about what happened, from Quatre. About how you showed up here and how you didn't change, how you still stayed different-"  
  
"Shut up!" Heero's eyes narrowed to small slits of anger and he moved forward quickly, hand at ready to hit Duo with a punch that would have sent him flying backward. But Duo didn't flinch.  
  
"No one should have to go through that."  
  
Heero's hand stopped in mid-motion and he took a step back, shaking his head. "What would you know!"  
  
"I know that everyone feels like they don't belong at times, but that doesn't mean they should leave."  
  
"You have no idea!"  
  
"Yes I do! I know! And I know that you can't hide in your fantasies forever, no matter how happy they may be!"  
  
Heero's eyes widened and he flinched like he'd actually been dealt a physical blow. Doubling over he clamped his hands over his ears. "NO! Shut up!"  
  
Power shattered around Duo and he found he could move again. He took a small step forward as a test then dived forward as he saw what was going on. Heero's body was shaking, feathers beginning to form around him. But this time Duo knew what to do.  
  
Jumping forward he clamped his hand around Heero's wrist, hard. The boy's eyes flew wide open and he tried to pull his hand away, the feathers around him wavering in and out of sight.  
  
"Let go!" He screamed out, his voice high and panicked.  
  
"No! I won't let you change back into your fantasy, listen to me! None of this is real!"  
  
Heero shook his head and pulled desperately at Duo's grip. "Let me go! I can't…"  
  
"This isn't real," Duo repeated quietly but forcefully. "And you know it."  
  
Heero opened his mouth to protest but nothing came out. He was interrupted by a loud crack which echoed around them. Both boys were thrown to the ground as a great force ripped the world around them. Everything seemed to crumble, the mist stopped swirling and became solid, crumbling into darkness. The world around them was completely falling apart.  
  
Duo sat up and found a huge crevice growing between him and Heero, the ground shaking beneath him like a great beast trying to throw them off its back.   
  
"Heero!" He cried out to the boy, but got no response. Instead the Goblin King crouched on the ground; his eyes wide with fear as the world around him shattered and crumbled away.  
  
Duo threw out his hand over the crevice. "Heero! Move now! You can't just sit there!"  
  
Tears slipped down the boy's face and he shook his head, the mask completely gone. He wasn't the Goblin King anymore; instead he'd changed into a simple frightened child. A child so frightened he was paralyzed with fear, and all he could do was sit there, shaking.  
  
"Heero! Listen to me! Please move! You can't just sit there! Please!"  
  
But Heero just shook his head, the tears flowing rapidly from his eyes. Even though the ground beneath his feet crumbled and feel away he couldn't move. He didn't move until there was nothing else left to stand on. Then he just fell.  
  
Duo's loud scream filled the air as the last of the ground crumbled away. Darkness swallowed him until the world snapped out of existence with a loud pop.  
  
End of part 9 


	10. Part 10

Part 10  
  
Duo opened his eyes and groaned as pain flowed through his body. Sitting up slowly he rubbed the back of his head and glanced around. He was lying at the bottom of the stairs in his house, right across from the front door. Had he fallen down the stairs?  
  
Sitting up completely he eyed himself and gasped as he found his clothes were torn and his hair had come out of its normal braid. He jumped as the large clock in the hallway clicked and started ringing, alerting the house it was midnight. Midnight…  
  
Solo!  
  
Duo jumped to his feet and raced up the stairs, his shoes pounding against the carpet hard. He ignored his protesting body and instead ran at full tilt straight for his room, throwing the door open so hard it hit the back wall with a loud thump. Quickly he flipped on the light and stared into the room.  
  
A lump covered with quilts lay in Solo's bed, groaning and rolling over at the sudden light and noise. "Duo," he moaned. "You jerk, turn off the light."  
  
"Solo!" Duo jumped at the bed and practically tackled his younger half-brother, burying him even further in the quilts.   
  
Solo struggled under the covers and finally tossed them off, sending Duo to land hard on the floor. Solo sat up in bed and just stared. "What in the world…?" He trailed off as he saw Duo's state. Duo's clothes were torn, his hair disheveled and scratches covered his body. Solo's eyes widened and he swallowed. "It wasn't a dream?" He murmured.  
  
Duo shook his head in response.  
  
"Are you ok?"  
  
Duo grinned and nodded, jumping forward to hug his half-brother tightly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have wished you away. I swear I'll never do it again!"  
  
Solo just sat there in the embrace, the shock moving through his system. For a long time he didn't respond, he just sat there as Duo hugged him. Then he smiled and pushed Duo away. "It's not just your fault, heh. I shouldn't have given you a reason to wish me away either. So, lets both agree to not anymore and I think we'll be fine."  
  
Duo nodded. "Agreed. But you're still a twerp."  
  
"Hey!" Solo jumped off the bed and tackled his brother, rolling on the floor laughing hard as the two mock wrestled, trying to pin the other to the ground. Finally they both just landed side by side, laughing and breathing hard as they stared at the ceiling.  
  
"Glad to see you two are getting along now."  
  
Both boys sat up and Duo turned to face the mirror. "No way… Quatre?"  
  
The little fire demon smiled and nodded from the mirror. Both boys stood up and walked to the hallway full length mirror and stared, Solo doing a couple double takes until he was convinced the strange blond boy wasn't actually standing behind them. "Who?"  
  
"You guys made it out ok?" Duo asked quickly.   
  
Quatre smiled and nodded. "All three of us, in one piece. Though… Wufei did chip a nail."  
  
Quatre's image faded out and Wufei was crouching in his place. His eyes narrowed. "Quatre!" He hissed in warning. Shaking his head sadly he glanced to Solo. "So you're the one who caused all the fuss… you're lucky kid. Lucky you've got him."  
  
Solo nodded.  
  
Wufei's image faded out to reveal Trowa, standing exactly to mirror Duo's stance.   
  
Duo frowned. "What happened to the castle after I left?"  
  
Trowa shook his head. "It's gone, like everything else."  
  
"Gone?!"  
  
The merboy nodded, his face expressionless.   
  
"I… I destroyed it all, didn't I?"  
  
"No," came Quatre's voice as he walked up to stand beside Trowa. "You just taught us all something we weren't willing to learn before. Just that we need to go home."  
  
"Fantasies don't last, nor should they." Trowa added. Meanwhile Wufei, who was now curled at their feet, just snorted in agreement.  
  
"And… Heero?"  
  
All three shook their heads. "We don't know. We haven't seen him."  
  
Duo's shoulders dropped but he nodded. He hadn't meant to destroy their home, but upon reflection of what they said he knew they were right. Everyone belonged home, in their own worlds. A fantasy was a great place to visit, but a horrible and lonely place to live.  
  
As if echoing his thoughts the three boys bid their farewells and slowly faded from the mirror until Duo and Solo were left staring at their own tattered reflections. Duo grimaced when he saw what shape he was really in.  
  
"Man, I really did do a number on myself," he murmured.  
  
Solo nodded in agreement.  
  
"I got an idea. I'll go get cleaned up and you order the pizza."  
  
"Are you nuts? Mom would kill us!"  
  
Duo just grinned. "Mom can go to hell. We are order pizza tonight, we deserve it."  
  
And that's just what they did.  
  
**  
  
Time passed and things dropped back into the normal routine. Luckily, that night, Solo and Duo were never caught with the pizza, being that their parents didn't make it home until very late in the morning and were too tired to check on the boys. This was a very good thing considering Duo and Solo had fallen asleep on the floor next to the empty pizza box. They promptly threw it away the next morning before anyone could notice.   
  
Summer passed and school started, bringing with it classes, homework and a whole world of things to fill their free time. Neither forgot about their strange adventure but at the same time it wasn't brought to mind often either. The lessons had been learned and were now put to daily use, their source filed away in the deepest part of the mind, reserved for the most cherished of memories. Solo got along better with Duo, not bugging him so much about his books, while Duo spent more time with other people, leaving his books to collect another layer of dust, but not to be forgotten.  
  
Things were back to normal and no one, other then them, was the wiser. In fact, the entire adventure was the furthest thing from Duo's mind when he entered his classroom about a month later. His mind set more on the new teacher and how he would have to really struggle with his grades in this class; it was one of his worst subjects. He was so embroiled in his own thoughts he didn't even realize someone was sitting in his normal desk until he reached it. He blinked in confusion, finding this quite strange. His seat was in the very back corner, no one ever took it because he was always so early, but today a person had beat him.  
  
Duo was about to say something when he caught a glance at the boy and stopped, his body growing cold with memory. Before him sat a boy his age, wearing normal jeans and a tank top, covered by a jean jacket. His shoulders were hunched and he appeared to be quite enthralled with the book in his hands. But it wasn't any of those features that caught Duo's attention. It was the hair. The disheveled brown hair that fell haphazardly across his head, shading his eyes from the room. Duo swallowed, knowing he could easily guess the color of those eyes.  
  
A moment later his suspicions were confirmed as the boy looked up at him from the book, revealing his deep cobalt blue eyes, hidden just slightly behind a pair of wire frame glasses. Duo's breath caught in his throat and the world around him seemed to stop as the boy just stared at him in confusion.  
  
Then the shock seemed to melt away, Duo's mind snapping back into motion. Smiling he nodded a greeting to the boy, knowing exactly what he should do. "Hey, my name's Duo Maxwell. Did you just transfer?"  
  
The boy nodded slowly. "Heero Yuy."  
  
Duo's grin widened and he took the seat next to Heero glancing at the book. "What'cha reading?"  
  
Heero gave a small embarrassed smile. "The textbook."  
  
"Cool! Listen, you don't think you could help me, do you? I mean, I really suck at social studies."  
  
Heero's eyebrows knit together in confusion and he just stared for a moment, his mouth just slightly open. Taking a small breath he frowned. "You're serious?"  
  
Duo nodded and ran a hand over his braid. "Yeah, I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't. Why? You don't believe I could get an F in this class? I assure you, I did it last year."  
  
Despite himself Heero let out a light chuckle. "No, it isn't that. Just… most of the time people don't talk to me. I'm not very social."  
  
Duo grinned. "Same here, usually." Duo leaned forward and whispered quietly. "I won't tell if you won't."  
  
That brought a genuine smile to Heero's lips and he just shook his head.  
  
"So what do you say, Heero, will you help me study? I know I'll flunk out if ya don't."  
  
Heero just shook his head and chuckled. "Baka."  
  
"Is that a yes?" Duo asked wiggling his eyebrows.  
  
Heero laughed and swatted at him playfully. "Yes. Now quite it, class is starting!"  
  
Duo grinned and straightened up in his chair. Turning his head he watched the teacher walking and start to write on the board. Despite his hatred of social studies he just couldn't stop smiling for the entire class. It shouldn't have surprised him really, that Heero turned out to be just a normal boy like him. It shouldn't have surprised him that the great and feared Goblin King actually turned out to be a teenage boy who hid behind thick books and a wire frame set of glasses. It shouldn't have surprised him at all, and in reality it didn't. All he knew was that this time he wasn't going to let Heero fall into his own world. This time he'd keep the boy smiling.  
  
This time he wouldn't let him fall.  
  
The end. 


End file.
